


It's A Supernatural Delight

by BogginsofEternalStench (TeaBagginsFromtheOak)



Category: The X-Files
Genre: Awkward Boners, Beta'd, Emetophobia, F/M, Google please don't alert authorities, I didn't spill any mercury thank you very much, I swear I'm researching radiation, Invisible Creatures, Listen I am going to throw the same joke in here at least 100 times because it's my favorite trope, Masturbation, Mutual Masturbation, Mutual Pining, One Sided Voyeurism, Portals, Post-Episode s05e5: Post-Modern Prometheus, Pre-Episode s05e06: Christmas Carol, RST, Season/Series 05, Sexually Charged Car Rides, Skinwalker Ranch, Smut, This would be creepy with anyone else Mulder, UFOs, UST, Vomiting, Voyeurism, case-fic, let me indulge, liberal use of commas, okay, other dimensions, this is in fact for me and no one else, this was supposed to be a one-shot
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-06
Updated: 2020-11-19
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:36:10
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 25,178
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23509264
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TeaBagginsFromtheOak/pseuds/BogginsofEternalStench
Summary: A case to end all cases draws Mulder and Scully to Utah. Scully is dealing with the worst case of hormones she's ever had to contend with and Mulder's half tented pants are not helping in any way.Maybe she would pretend she didn't hear him touching himself in the next room. Maybe he would pretend he didn't hear her either.
Relationships: Fox Mulder/Dana Scully
Comments: 12
Kudos: 69





	1. If It Was A Pizza It Would Be Extra Weird With A Side Of Crazy

**Author's Note:**

> So I spent a couple days on this planning it out and writing it up and debating how to put it out here and then I forgot somewhere that I was writing about stuff in the 90s and flash drives weren't invented until the early thousands, so I had to go through and give myself a crash course on 90's portable technology. With that being said we're talking about aliens so uh suspend your belief about their use of technology. Thank you please enjoy. Also if this isn't posted as a one chapter 20,000 word monstrosity please expect regular updates as I will have it finished and fingers crossed Beta Read (See end notes for applications I am actively looking) for your enjoyment, let me know what you guys feel. 
> 
> So I know that the real people's name is different then the one I use, but I use the name they gave in their book kind of out of respect you know, they probably don't want to be linked to a MSR story so yeah that's why I kept their 'fictional' name.

The drive seemed to go on for days. Without getting permission from Skinner, the plane tickets came less and less and the driving wore on for days even trading off back and forth was a hassle when Mulder constantly asked directions from her sleep addled mapping skills. Which had only led to more turnarounds than correct directions. She was tempted to post the map on the windshield just to keep him from reaching over with his questing finger for more directions. The thought of crashing was more metaphorically tempting then being woken up by Mulder for the sixth time just as he mystery man reveals himself in her dream. The combination of consistently inaccurate wet dreams and being disrupted before a full REM cycle completion was giving her a special combination of sexual frustration and restlessness. After a while she decided to stay awake and glare at the map as if it would combust and send them on an entirely different X-File all together.

“Mulder, off the next exit, there’s a motel.” She suggested with a distinct hint in her voice. He hummed to whatever radio station they managed to get in these mountains. She sighed and attempted to fold up the map back to its original creases. She leaned on arm on the arm rest and lay her head on her fist, no Mulder she was not pouting, and stared off at the ceaseless yellow lines in front of her.

“Tell me again what it is you think we’re coming all the way to Utah for?” She inquired as they passed another sign – _next rest stop in 50 miles_ – she looked at her empty water bottle and grimaced.

“It’s aforementioned that dire wolves roam Ballard, Utah.” She rolled her eyes.

“Mulder, dire wolves-“

“Have never been seen by the human eye since they existed in the Pleistocene era?” He gave an askance smile. She would have pouted had he not looked so damn cute.

“It’s like I don’t even need to be here.” She grumbled. The drive was starting to wear on her nerves.

“Scully have you ever heard of skin walkers?" He reaches behind him, nearly brushing her with his chest as she continued to lean on her fisted hand. He searches blindly for a second as he continues driving before making a contented noise in the back of his through and drops some files in her lap. She ignores the way the grunt of success he emits sounds vaguely familiar to the dream apparition that hovered above her not twenty minutes ago and relishes in crossing her legs as she feels the onset of arousal heat her core. Now was not the time to go back traipsing through her wet dreams.

“Skin walkers come from all kinds of mythologies but most notoriously by the Navajo. They are thought to be witches –“ a yawn that stretches from her lower back, pushing her chest out and she attempts to hide her mouth behind her hand “- and seen as bad omens typically?” She leaned forward and began to flip through the pages. The first page was a typical cow mutilation that she had grown accustomed to in Mulder’s line of work. “Dead cows?” She looked sidelong at him. “What’s that got to do with skin walkers?” He popped a sunflower seed in his mouth. Her eyes drooped as she watched his tongue make guest appearances against his lips, occasionally she thought she could see the sparkle of salt on his lip as she unconsciously darted her own tongue out to wet her lips.

“Skin walker is just the tip. This place has sightings of alien activity, UFO’s, flying vans, disembodied voices, dire wolves, skin walkers, death orbs, cow mutilations, Sasquatch, portals to seemingly other dimensions – Scully the sky is the limit with this place. The couple who owns it is at wits end.” She began reading on the accounts. There seemed to be an anomalous aura about the place, but she didn’t think it was inherently supernatural or paranormal. Nonetheless the family did seem genuinely torn about their new life at the ranch. She stumbled upon a picture of what she thought was the remnants of a fire pit, but she saw the caption _former blue heelers_. She felt queasy at the thought and closed the files. Cows were one thing, but with her recent loss of her own dog she couldn’t stomach the idea of stumbling upon the remains of her pooch in such a condition. She mentally crossed herself and went back to leaning on her hand.

“So dire wolves which have been extinct for millions of years, and witches from native tribes, and aliens of far off planets are all at work here, Mulder?” One of those things was highly improbably in her reasoning, but all three was beyond comprehension and more illogical to all occur – had they been real in the first place – simultaneously at a single place. Let alone the communication skills needed for an operation such as that one. Mulder rummaged through his pockets and held his closed fist out for Scully to accept, which she did mindlessly. He dropped a handful of previously chewed sunflower husks and a compact flash card. She scrunched up her face in disgust, “Mulder!” he at least looked apologetic. She dropped everything in her hand to reach for the napkins in the glove compartment. He picked up the flash card and wiped it off on his pants. She threw the spent napkin at his profile and grinned as it came into contact with his cheek. He handed her the flash card again.

“Plug that into your laptop, Scully.” She reached behind her and it was her turn to brush her chest against him, she leaned on the back of his seat for support as she grabbed the laptop out of its case. It took a few minutes before she got it up and running but once the startup finished, she grabbed the flash card and inserted it into the slot. There were several video files on the card and she read the few that were there before Mulder piped up, “Check out the second one.” She dutifully pulled up the second video. A screen popped up of what appeared to be security footage. It was of a pole with wires connected all along the pole, plugged in at various spots. The clock in the corner counting up. The seconds ticked on, then before she could turn to Mulder and ask what this was about, all of the wires were unplugged and laying on the ground.

“Mulder? Did you send this down to the techs to have this analyzed for tampering?” She backed up on the video and watched as not a single second went missing between the wires being disconnected.

“Yep, it’s 100% genuine, happening in real time.” She continued to pull the cursor back to just before the wires disconnected.

“What is this?” She turned to him fully. He shrugged.

“It could be anything or nothing. Or something in between.”She continued to try to look through the rest of the videos, but they were black screens, preventing her from any other research.

“People have also reported seeing themselves or other people they know in a form of duplicate situation. The son goes down stairs to the smell of cooking bacon, say hi to mom, walk back upstairs, runs into mom.” She closed her laptop.

“So are you saying doppelgangers?” Mulder shrugged as she reached back to put her laptop in the back seat.”I don’t know, it’s a hot bed of activity that’s for sure.” His voice started to get a little strained. She looked back to the road, only to find there was no longer a road. The fog had rolled in from nowhere and blanketed the car in milky condensation. The lights were reflecting back at them making them squint their eyes before Mulder turned them off plunging them into inky blackness. The world around them seemed to silence. Not that they’d encountered many cars before the fog, but now it seemed like they were the last people on the planet. Mulder slowed to a crawl before turning the wheel slightly, sending the car on the gravel of the shoulder. Scully held the handle on the door in a white knuckle grip. He put his hazards on just in case and stepped out of the car.

“Mulder!” She yelled as he was instantly swallowed up by the fog. This fog was different, there was something menacing in the feeling of it, the way it seeped into the car when he opened the door. It felt like snakes slithering under the floor boards and made her pick her feet up from the floor and into the seat. “Mulder get back in the car!” She tried calling out but it seemed like the fog only absorbed her words. She groaned and stepped out of the car. It was like walking in the dead of night without the help of the moon. The fog creeping over her skin like tendrils of hair, whipping around her. She reached her hands out to try and feel for her surroundings. Her feet slipped on the gravel of the shoulder. She felt the fog licking at her legs and making her knees nearly buckle. It was like cold wet fingers sliding up her calves.

“Mulder!” She tried once more, but to no avail. She started to shiver, but she didn’t know if it was the cold or the fear as she kept one hand on the car and the other in the air as she searched for her partner. _Always running into the unknown._ She would have assumed he planned for this to happen with his talk of skin walkers and cow mutilations had she been a believer of karma or coincidences of the like. She could feel the hair in the back of her neck start to stand up and a small amount of sweat or water collection from the fog started to fall down her forehead. She was going to call out to Mulder again when a hand grabbed her around the wrist and she screamed instead.

“Scully, it’s me.” The faint lines of Mulder’s face could be seen in front of her. He was less than a foot away, but she still could barely make out the contour of his countenance. She wrapped her arms around him and nearly dragged him back to the car. She worried that the car wouldn’t still be in the place they had left it in the dense fog. She felt the car door handle and threw it open. She could feel his warm hand on the small of her back as she slid into the passenger’s seat. His hand felt like fire on her gooseflesh skin. She shivered from the contact, a tremor going up and down her back before settling low in her abdomen. He shut the door and walked around, one hand just a faint outline as he traveled in front of the car and back into the driver’s seat. He played with the lights for a minute, determining that on or off there was no visibility so long as the fog is there.

“Looks like we’re stuck here for the time being.” She said as she squeezed herself deeper into the seat, wrapping her arms around herself to get some warmth back into her body. He leaned his seat all the way back and turned to face her.

“If I remember the map correctly we’re just getting into the Uinta Basin.” _So he could remember that, but he couldn’t remember to make a right or a left at the stop sign._ She faced him completely from her spot in her seat. She didn’t want to look outside for fear that the feeling she had in the fog would crawl back into the hollow feeling in her chest. Something was wrong about this place, but she didn’t think anything paranormal or supernatural or skin related.

“I told you that we should have stopped at the rest area.” She grumbled her irritation was exasperated by her tired state. Even now, as she pulled her legs up to her chest she could feel the invisible weights pulling her eyelids down making it hard for her to focus on Mulder. He on the other hand seemed wide awake. She leaned her seat back and quite trying to fight the need to stay awake. As she lost her fight with consciousness she felt something heavy and warm placed on her shoulders. Her dreams were filled with the scent of Mulder and an invisible man’s arms wrapped around her tight.

xXx

Scully startled awake to the sound of a car driving by. She sat bolt upright, looking around her environment. The fog had cleared, the sun was just rising over the mountains far to the east. Cracks of pink and red breaking through the blue of the early morning. The miles and miles of sage brush on either side of the road stretched out into the last recesses of the night. She looked within the car as the ‘blanket’ she was using fell onto her lap. She picked up Mulder’s suit jacket and folded it into a square while she took in the ever present stillness of Utah. When they drove in it had been night time and she had been in and out of consciousness before the fog rolled in. Now she took in the mountains on the horizon and the gentle breeze the rustled the sagebrush around her, kicking up a fragrance that reminded her of her sister. Scully stretched in her seat and looked around the car. She noticed Mulder still asleep in the driver’s seat. He was laying stretched out one arm sprawled on the arm rest, fingertips grazing her knee, his other arm was tucked under his head, elbowing sticking straight up like a lightning rod. His face was turned towards her, his mouth slack open a touch to barely see the tips of his teeth. Her eyes traveled further down and regretted it.

He was a man and she was a scientist and she knew the nightly routines of a man in the prime of his life, but she somehow managed to blush like a school girl at the sight of his tented pants. With one leg bent over the shifter and the other pressed close to the door, he basically was posturing himself in his sleep and she felt heat rise up through her neck. She took a deep breath as she debated her next course of action. She couldn’t let him wake up and have her staring at him like that, but she also couldn’t wake him up to have him embarrassed on a perfectly normal and natural – and erotic – part of a man’s life. She contemplated the jacket on her own lap, but before she could the arm closest to her moved, causing her to freeze in place. His eyes were still closed, but his mouth let out a puff of breath as they attempted to form words. His hand moved across his hip to the tent in his slacks. He let out a quick pant as his hand pushed against his straining erection. She was frozen in place by the movement and the fear of waking him up, she hoped it was just a momentary thing that would pass and he would roll over and wake himself up. But the moister part of her body protested at the thought of him turning away from her. She watched as his hips raised themselves off the driver’s seat and his shirt that had untucked itself throughout the night rose above his midline, exposing his belly button. The hand on his erection gave another push and this time a name stumbled from his breathy lips as he tilted his head deeper into the headrest of the seat.

“Scully.” Hearing her name fall like a prayer from his mouth while he touched himself, albeit unconsciously, spurred her into action. She grabbed his jacket and simultaneously throwing it on him and swinging open the door. She stepped out of the car unsteadily as her legs adjusted to the gravel of the shoulder and from the arousal that still coursed through her veins and swelled down in her abdomen. The cool air felt like a godsend on her slicked underwear as her skirt did little to resist the breeze. She didn’t care how hard she shut the door as she stepped further down the shoulder, reaching the start of the sagebrush. She ran her hands down her front, evening out the wrinkles that sleeping in out suit had put in it. She took a few more deep breaths as she straightened her hair, running her nails along her scalp to tame the cowlick that usually formed when she didn’t shower for a few days. She looked down at her feet in the reddish tinted dirt. She paused putting her hair up in a ponytail as she looked down in the dirt by her foot. She let her hands fall to her side as she squatted down to look at the imprint in the dirt. She used her open hand to hover over the imprint. Scully wouldn’t say she was a small woman, petite for sure, but this paw print made her hand look like a child. She stood up straight as she heard the crunch of rocks behind her.

“Mulder, look at these.” She kept her head down, looking in the gravel at more paw prints. She noticed he had put his shirt back in his pants and buttoned his jacket up. He kneeled down to look at the paw prints. He crouched a little farther and towards the sage brush while she followed them as they went towards the car. She felt a chill run down her spine as she saw numerous paw prints circling the car. She stood stock still as she heard Mulder come up from behind her.

“Whatever it was, I just hope it’s a good boy.” His comment did nothing to calm her nerves at seeing the massive paw prints circling the car. He ghosted his hand on her lower back, leaning close as he noticed her unresponsive nature. “Scully, are you alright?” While she wasn’t certain that what they were dealing with was otherworldly the idea that something potentially 70% her height and almost twice her weight was circling their car last night whilst she slept was nerve wracking to say the least. She took a few deep breaths before she managed to center herself in the present: she was here, she was alive, and she had just nearly watched her partner have a wet dream about her and the collection of news that was developing was overwhelming for her exhausted mind and not something to be thought strenuously about having just slept in the front seat of a car.

“Yeah, just want to get to a motel.” She walked away from him, nearly storming to the passenger side of the car, she didn’t bother to wait for him to open the door as she slid in and slammed it against the wind that was picking up. She saw him follow her at the corner of her eye and then disappear behind the car only to reemerge by the door and slide into the driver’s seat. With the roads clear Mulder pulled out from the shoulder and headed towards the approaching town. She kept her gaze firmly forward, not daring look at her partner or the driver’s seat in general for the memory of his morning wood or the way he panted her name fill her memory. After a few minutes of driving she noticed the upcoming bridge.

“I guess that’s where the fog came from.” She commented. She watched the murky waters as they drove over the bridge. The river was large, but she couldn’t imagine that a river that size could generate the fog they had encountered last night. She pulled out the map from the glove compartment, stifling a yawn. Scully looked at the map a moment as she saw the turn approaching in her peripheral. She saw Mulder shift his legs and her eyes moved on their own accord to glance sidelong at his thighs. Her eyes lingered longer than anticipated as he broke the silence,

“Would you like to drive?” She looked up from his hips to his profile. Startled by her own staring, thankfully she kept her emotions in check because the last thing she needed was to be blushing.

“No.” She didn’t have an excuse for what she was doing, the image of his erection against his slacks flooded her memory causing her to cross her legs and look back at the map. A heavy silence filled the car.

“Scully, I’m sorry.” She tensed. She was content with ignoring the situation this morning as a natural act of a healthy male, but she wasn’t about to confront it head on. She decided to play coy.

“What for?” She folded the map in half so it was more manageable. These last forty miles could not go by faster. It felt like Mulder was purposefully going under the speed limit to prolong this.

“For not putting us up in a motel room like you said.” She was silent at the scapegoat. Too relieved that the conversation was staying ignorant to that morning to respond. “Especially with wolves taller than you running around.” She smirked at the joke. Her nerves bouncing between fear at the thought of being patrolled by massive prehistoric carnivores and relief that she did not have to nearly cost their partnership by either waking him up mid stroke or clearing the console to ride him into awareness of the situation. She needed to get to a motel and shower, she would take any motel at this point so long as the bathroom door had a lock on it and she had the battery power to withstand the extended showering duration.

“I’ll think of a fitting reward for myself on your behalf.” She bit her lip at her own brazen flirt, but she kept her eyes on the map in front of her. Her mind a whirlwind of explanations for the sightings reported at the ranch. She subconsciously crossed and uncrossed her legs multiple times. Her own body uncomfortable having been in the car for so long.

“Don’t threaten me with a good time.” Mulder announced to the already electric atmosphere. It was like he was tempting the charge from the clouds around them to accumulate within the compact sedan with them. And Scully wasn’t sure if she could survive a lightning strike in her current state. She tried to sit up straighter in her seat to avoid looking at him or his blatant attitude. She worried about the wolf outside her door, but she didn’t realize she had a wolf in man’s clothing’s eyeing her from the driver’s seat. His canines sharpened to a point as his tongue lapped at her discomfort as she waited for the inevitable feeling of his teeth in her supple flesh. She rolled her window down an inch to let the smell of sage brush flood the car letting the stale air of their breathing went out the window. She had faced down numerous nightmarish situations with an almost pip in her step, but the most frightening monster of all were her developing feelings for the man next to her. The biggest X-File of her life would be wrapped up in a turtle neck and jeans and smelt like ink and stardust. It wasn’t wrapped up in pretty wrapping paper and a bow, but instead it unfolded softly and quietly until you realized you’d finished the whole book and was left with a wear bound back and a few dog eared pages.

She was left to her musings until she started to see the rise of buildings and street signs once again. Her body seemed to remember that it wasn’t a machine and her bladder filled at the sight of a gas station.

“Mulder, maybe I’ll take my reward now and have you find the nearest motel as quickly as possible.” She tapped her foot on the floor board as her eyes scanned the horizon.

“I usually don’t put out until the third date, Scully.” She shot him a glare that his comments were over the top on most days and with her frazzled nerves they were even less welcome in a constant barrage.

“I need to use the restroom since somebody refused to stop at a rest stop along the way with no regard for his passenger.” She saw him chew his lip and put on a blinker. He avoided her glare as he pulled into a ramshackle little motel. He pulled up in a spot next to reception and she jumped out of the car, eyeing a bathroom sign around the corner from the ice machine. She didn’t wait for him to get out of the car before she was fast walking down the archway.

She could smell food as she approached the bathroom and saw a little restaurant tucked into the corner. Her stomach growled, but she shoved her way into the bathroom ignoring the pains in her abdomen. Priorities. Once she was finished in the bathroom she looked around for the entrance to the little restaurant. It was tucked away in another hidden alley way and she walked in to the smell of bacon and warm bread. She hummed at the scent and a young woman at the hostess station spotted her. She had a cheery look about her, her grin fitting perfectly under her button nose and cherub face. She pulled out two menus as she approached Scully.

“For two?” Scully opened her mouth to reject the offer, but was interrupted by a hand on her lower back pushing her forward.

“That would be lovely.” She hadn’t even heard him walk up behind her, her mind preoccupied with eating. Part of her easily agitated state was effected by the ever pressing growls that were emanating from her abdomen. She let him lead her with the graze of his fingers on the small of her back as the hostess sat them at a table facing the courtyard of the motel. She could see the car parked a few spots over. Soon enough a waitress walked up holding a pad of paper, it was the hostess from before.

“What can I get started to drink for you guys?” She kept her cheery smile on the whole time. She had to be just out of high school with her chipper attitude and tip-based employment.

“Depends, will you also be making our food?” Mulder gave a smirk and looked around the waitress at the rest of the little restaurant not seeing much anyone else there. She chuckled behind her notepad. Scully rolled her eyes behind her menu. “I’ll take a coffee. Black.” The waitress turned to Scully who set her menu down with a little more force than intended as Mulder’s napkin sprang to light and fell into his lap.

“A coffee, but just go ahead and serve it directly on his lap.” She grinned to show her teeth, a warning to Mulder. “And a water.” The waitress gave Scully a shockingly sympathetic look and left to go get their drinks.

“I can’t help but sense some hostility still. And here I am buying you breakfast.” She peeked at him with a quirked eyebrow over the top of her menu. He closed his menu with a huff, quickly followed by a lean over the table closer to her. She didn’t bother to look over the menu to know he was attempting to x-ray his vision through the menu. “I got us a motel. I’ll count this as dinner. Any plans when we take this back to my room?” She was going to explode. She was going to explode and it would look like those incinerated dogs from the case file. She crossed her legs under the table to hide her nearly soaked underwear and to attempt to lessen the smell of her arousal to her own nostrils. She promptly kicked him under the table, hard. She heard the waitress come back and closed the menu in a snap as she saw Mulder back up in his seat to get his oversized legs out of her space. This time Scully read the girl’s name tag. _Evie_.

“Have you guys decided on something to eat?” She put their drinks down and grabbed her pad of paper and pen like they were about to give her the juiciest details about the local drama.

“Yes, Evie, I’ll have the veggie omelet. Can I get a bowl of fruit with that?” Evie furiously wrote down in her pad of paper.

“Sure thing.” She turned to Mulder.

“The Wolfman, please.” She nodded and took their menus.

“It’ll be out in just a moment.” She gave one last smile before she headed off. Scully took a sip of her water and noticed the two cups of coffee in front of her. Mulder was fixing up his as she sat there.

“Showering.” She said abruptly. He stopped his coffee cup half way to his mouth. She couldn’t see his lips beyond the coffee mug, but she could tell he was smirking.

“Alone?” She can play this game as well.

“Depends on your definition of alone.” He gave her a stare she couldn’t read and put his coffee cup down. He began to play with a few of the cream cups. He seemed content to end the conversation there. Something in him satiated with the turn of events. Meanwhile she adjusted in her seat again as she felt the heat from her core making her legs slick. The nylons weren’t helping in the slightest and she just wanted to eat and get to her room. Almost as if reading her mind on some level, Mulder handed over her room key, sliding it over the table. She took it graciously, sliding it into her blazer pocket. She looked out the window at the courtyard. She could see Mulder do the same out of her peripheral.

“Apparently Navajo witches don’t bring in the tourists.” Scully had to agree with that. What little she had seen of the town it was particularly quiet. She didn’t know if that was a side effect of the potential dangers that were stemming from the ranch or because it was too early in the morning for people to be up and about. “I say we break in the beds and then head over to the ranch.” There was less heat in this comment, but the mental image of Mulder rocking her hard enough to shake the bed sent a shock to her already touch starved clit.

“Your bed may be in for a ride, but I will be getting myself presentable for the sasquatch we are bound to run into.” As she finished up her reply Evie returned with several plates teetering in her hands and forearms. She sets down Scully’s before giving Mulder his.

“Is there anything else I can get you guys?” She filled up more of Mulder’s coffee.

“Actually,” Mulder piped up. Scully contented herself with eating. “I was wondering if you’ve heard anything about skin walker ranch?” For the first time, Evie’s cheery exterior fell a fraction.

“Well…” She put on a more somber expression, setting the coffee pot on their table. “It’s kind of local legend since the Gorman’s moved in and all. It was kind of just a dump before they got it. Cleaned it up real nice. Damn shame about his cattle though. The wolves out here can be pretty ruthless.” Scully kept her ears on the conversation, but she kept her eyes on her food. “Came up and tried to take his calf right in front of them. It took plenty of shots too.” She had a solemn look on her face.

“Do they have the body of the wolf?” She shook her head slowly.

“No, it disappeared off into the mountains, dead no doubt.” Mulder looked at Scully then back to Evie.

“Do you know the Gorman’s well?” She shrugged, the most telling of her age.

“You see them around town, they’re plenty nice. Damn shame about their ranch.” Evie punctuated again. As if the loss was somehow her own as well. Mulder nodded. “What’s your business with the Gorman’s?” Scully eyed the girl as she worked her way through her breakfast.

“We’re with the FBI, we’re looking to help the Gorman’s.” Evie let out a generous sigh.

“God knows they need it.” She picked up the pot of coffee and went back behind the counter. Scully finished the rest of her food as Mulder seemed to stew over his own thoughts. She pushed her plate away as Mulder picked at his food.

“What are you thinking, Mulder?” Part of her was hoping he would say ‘nothing’, but the other part of her was always genuinely interested in his theories, as farfetched as they sometimes were. The further out they were the easier it made her job at shooting them down.

“Maybe skin walker ranch is proof of a multiverse theory.” She took a deep breath as she leaned back in her seat.

“Do you intend to find a version of yourself that is sane?” She quipped. He gave her a toothy grin.

“And have someone vie for your spot as extremely rational?” He shook his head. He took the last few dregs of his coffee and he took pushed his plate away. He flagged down Evie who seemed to already be on her way. She had the check ready and Mulder already had the company card out. “It’s so rare that we encounter a genuine X File and now we seem to have every possible X File here, Scully.” Evie took the card and went to run it as Scully took a few sips of her water.

“All the more reason for its improbability and more embellishments of the owners.” She clicked her nails on the cups for a moment. “With the exception of the wolf, this could very well be small town shenanigans.” She straightened her skirt and shifted her legs. “Starving animals are often known for their risk prone behavior in regards to finding food sources, so a few humans may not have seemed all that threatening if faced with a meal of that proportion.”

“The wolf took a few shots from a .357 point blank, and you’re saying it’s risk prone enough to just shrug off five shots from a gun like that?” Mulder grimaced at the thought. He subconsciously rubbed his left shoulder, he stopped as Evie came back with the receipt and card. Mulder made quick work or writing, but Scully had already started her way to the door.

“If the animal was shot as you say, then there would be evidence of the animal left behind at the scene of the ranch would there not?” Mulder was quiet behind her. She happened a glance and saw him scrambling after her.

“Well, that’s what Tom reports, but they didn’t give it to animal control.” Scully walked out of the little diner and looked around the courtyard to try to find her room. Mulder pointed towards the car and she remembered her overnight bag.

“Get me a body, Mulder.” She raised an eyebrow at him over the top of the car as he unlocked it. She reached in to grab her bag as he responded,

“Hot blooded or cold blooded, Scully?” His voice was suggestive and she didn’t need to see his face to know what that he was leering at her. She slammed the car door more out of absentmindedness than anger.

“Whatever complains the least when I take my scalpel to it.” She dug out her key and walked into her room. She didn’t wait to hear his response before shutting her door behind her.

xXx

Mulder made sure to lock up the car before he entered his own room. He could hear Scully moving around in the room next to him and he took a moment to look at the door adjoining their rooms. He set his bag down and pulled out the case files. He figured he would try to scrounge around to kill time until Scully had turned back into a human being that was willing to contend with other human beings. Living or dead. Mulder himself knew he was walking on thin ice. He was drawn back to this morning. He remembered waking up to something falling onto his lap and the dawning realization that he was sporting an impressive morning wood. He watched Scully exit the car and walk further from the car as he thought about how to remedy his predicament without his usual means. He leaned his seat all the way up and bent over his lap. He closed his eyes willing his erection to at least make itself less prominent in his slacks. He begged whatever merciful god there was that Scully hadn’t seen before she left the car.

After Scully leaving the car door open for her leg stretching – he couldn’t think of anything else it could have been – he was flaccid enough to be presentable. He threw his jacket on and walked out the car as he noticed Scully’s inquisitive stance.

He was brought back to reality at the sound of Scully’s shower turning on. He got up from the desk by the window and paced the space between his bed and the TV. He had a pent up energy that he didn’t know where it had sprouted from. He was tempted to go for a run, but it was too early and they would have to go down to the police department to ask about the Gorman’s and possibly the animal control offices. He walked into the bathroom as he heard the curtain to Scully’s shower slide open, then closed. Everything she did seemed so loud to him. The way she bit her lip when she thought he wasn’t looking. The way her legs moved against her nylons. The deep breaths she took when she was nearly asleep in the passenger seat of the car. How her mouth fell open ever so slightly to reveal the tip of her tongue to him. For as quiet as she was about her feelings and well being her body was so loud to him. While a large portion of his eidetic memory was taken up by different case files a growing population of the images in his mind were being filled by a particularly challenging red head.

The way her hair fell over her eyes as she looked over his case reports, the way it never seemed to stay behind her ear no matter how hard she tried. The way her glasses sat on her nose when she was reading her trashy novels on the plane. The way she would let him put his legs in her leg room of the plane so long as she could sprawl her legs over his shins. The simple touches sending him into the wildest of frenzies more so than the banter between them. He toed his shoes off and quietly opened the curtain to his shower. He carefully eased himself into the bath tub, sitting with his back against the wall joining their rooms, his feet hanging out of the edge of the tub. He listened to the sounds of the shower for a moment before a separate sound interrupted the spraying water. He leaned his ear against the bathroom tile, straining to hear the sound again. The rush of water in the pipes was louder, so he settled for putting his head against the tile. He closed his eyes, barely enough to chase the lights behind his eyelids when the sound came again. Louder. A keening. In a high tone. He shot up at the recognition of the sound and the strain in his pants from a few hours came back with a vengeance.

He leaned back against the tile wall as he listened intently. He blocked out the sound of the running water, but there was still a buzzing he couldn’t place until another muffled cry broke through the wall. He closed his eyes at the thought, wishing he could get a single glimpse of the scene behind him. Just one to save a drowning man from the riptide. He bunched his fists in his slacks as Scully gave another short cry. It sounded like she had something in her mouth. He gasped as he pinpointed in his mind the origin of the secondary buzzing noise and he jerked his hips up involuntarily. He bit down on his hand to prevent his own noises. He had his free hand firmly clasped on his thigh. He felt ready to burst at just the sounds and thoughts his erection painful in his pants with the mental image of Scully touching herself behind him. Suddenly a thud sounded on the wall behind him and he jumped, thinking himself caught, but a louder un-muffled cry rang out behind him.

His cock twitched in response to the sound and he wondered if he would have heard it had he been on the bed. She surely didn’t intend for anyone else to be privy to her pleasurable acts. Her moans were growing in frequency and his imagination ran. The way her hands most likely tweaked her nipples and the vibrator making lewd noises as she dragged it from her clit to her pussy, building her orgasm. He bit down harder on his hand as his cock pressed uncomfortably into his zipper. His body begged to release the pressure, but he could only focus on the way Scully was moaning less than six inches from him. He listened as her moans started to form more syllabic noises.

“Mu-.“ _More._ His brain supplied.

“Mul-.“ _More_. It began to mantra in his head.

“Mulde-“ His brain froze as he realized her intended phrase.

“Mulder.” _Mulder._ Him. That was he. His brain short circuited as his the thought of not only her masturbating, but masturbating to thoughts of _him_ filled his synapses. He bit impossibly harder on his hand as he came in time with her second complete utterance of his name. He panted against his palm and couldn’t stop his body from jerking upwards to fill an invisible recipient. Well maybe not invisible just not available. He let go of his hand when he heard the shower shut off. He took deep breaths to calm his racing heart, watching his pants form the wet spot in front of his slacks. He scrambled out of the tub before he had to peel his pants off of him like a fly strip. He was in the process of removing his underwear when his foot caught on his slacks, sending him tumbling to the linoleum.

“Mulder?” He heard her from the adjoining door. “Mulder?” She asked more insistently. His heart was pounding as he debated putting his pants back on and facing the potential humiliation of her seeing his utter failure at an attempt to keep himself decent or showing her the exact thing she had just been fantasizing about. Before he had time to formulate the proper answer the door to their rooms opened and she came striding in, her robe wrapped tightly around her.

In a last ditch effort to save himself he slammed the bathroom door with his leg. “I’m fine Scully!” He tried to reassure through the closed door. He could hear her pad closer.

“Did you fall? Are you injured?” He groaned before he realized that was the wrong noise to make. A knock on the door. “Mulder?”

“I’m fine, Scully.” He struggled with his pants around his ankles. “I promise.” He tried to sound like his heart wasn’t currently in his throat. He swallowed hard hoping it would put the offensive thing back in its own spot. He could hear her shuffling on the other side of the door.

“Okay, Mulder, but if you need my help I’m just on the other side of the door.” He swallowed hard as his dick reminded him of that fact. Not fifteen minutes later and he was hard as a rock again, it bounced against his abdomen adamantly announcing its arrival. He slid himself up as he heard Scully walk back to her adjoining room. He threw on at least his sticky underwear, they hardly hid anything as his erection threatened decontainment at any moment. Only Scully could make his body react like he was 15 and saw his first porn mag on the corner shop. He slowly tiptoed his way out of the bathroom, looking at the door to Scully’s room and hurrying to throw on new underwear and was in the process of tucking his shirt into a new pair of pants when his cell phone rang. He answered and put it to his ear between his shoulder.

“Mulder.” He zipped up his pants and transferred the phone to his other ear.

“Agent Mulder. It’s Sheriff Conley.” Mulder went to the bathroom to grab his other slacks and stuffed them into his suitcase.

“Morning, Sheriff. What can I do for you?” He knocked on Scully’s door, the sound of her voice cutting through inviting him in told him to enter.

“Well we were just wondering if you would be coming around today?” The sheriff sounded anxious. He walked into Scully’s room and sat down at her desk. He stared at the window while he answered.

“Yeah, sorry we encountered a little weather trouble last night, so we got in really early this morning, but we’re just heading your way now.” Scully walked over to him and gave him an eyebrow. He stared at her blankly.

“Alright well thank you, Agent Mulder.” Mulder hummed. Scully reached over him and he prided himself in being a gentleman, but he was only a man. She tugged something behind him and he hadn’t realized he had sat on her jacket. He gave her a weak smile as he said goodbye to the sheriff and stood up from the chair.

“Don’t mind me.” She said throwing on her jacket. “Who was that?” She ran her fingers through her wet hair in the bathroom mirror.

“Sheriff, we’re going to meet him now.” Mulder sat back down in the seat. He patted his pockets realizing the keys were in his other pants. He walked through the open door and hurriedly pulled the keys out like he was checking on his ‘film collection’.

“Ready, Mulder?” She stood in the adjoining doorway. He perked up quickly and nodded stiffly. He gave a wide grin and jangled the keys.

“Let’s get this spooky pizza with an extra side of weird.”


	2. There's Posion in The Land

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The ranch hides secrets deeper than any conspiracy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Geez I meant to update sooner, but suddenly April was over. Anyways chapter two. It's gonna get a little slower as I have to do some more editing and rewriting to get it the way I want it. Let me know what you guys think, I'll be here update appreciating all of your kudos and comments.

“Sheriff Conley?” Mulder noticed the otherwise vacant police station.

“We’ll I’m not Elvis.” The sheriff stood up adjusting his belt. “Otherwise I would have called you for a separate case.” Scully looked between the two with a quirked eyebrow and a faint smile. She enjoyed the lack of enthusiasm that people displayed with Mulder when he was being particularly arrogant. The sheriff held out his hand to both of them. They took turns shaking as Mulder looked around the room.

“I guess I should say thanks for coming out here.” The sheriff started. He sat back down in his seat and offered the two chairs to the FBI agents. They both sat. “The Gorman’s are at wits end, they’re thinking of selling to some big realtor.” From the look that Sheriff Conley gave the idea of some corporate influence was a distasteful idea.

“We kind of specialize in this sort of stuff.” Mulder left it at that in regards to their work. The sheriff would learn soon enough. “Besides the cow mutilations has anyone reported any injuries or deaths near the Gorman’s ranch?” The sheriff shook his head, but there seemed to be an asterisk in the movement. Mulder waited while Conley seemed to be looking for the words.

“I guess I should say there haven’t been any reports that I have had to deal with.” Conley fiddled with his belt loops.

“What do you mean by that?” Mulder leaned forward in his seat. His knee grazed Scully’s as he spread his legs to accommodate more of the shared space. She kept her leg firmly planted where it was as she had grown used to his need to occupy all available space, as is the case with the office as well.

“Well the surrounding area is inhabited by the Ute population.” He let out a small sigh. “The Ute’s history isn’t impeccable as they are guilty of enslaving the Navajo and thus the Navajo cursed the land that their ranch is on.” He took his hat off and ran a hand through his har. “The mesa that bisects the ranch is actually called Skinwalker Ridge by the native population.” Conley looked uncomfortable as he relayed the impromptu history lesson. “I mean, I’m been a sheriff for plenty of years, I’ve seen my fair share of murders and the like, but this place…” He put his hat back on. “This place is spoiled. There’s something rotten in the ground and it ain’t normal.” Scully saw the way Conley’s eyes darkened as he talked about the ranch. While the man may be rational in the aspect of police work, the look in his eyes indicated that regardless of science he wasn’t sure it would every explain what was going on at the Gorman’s Ranch.

“Would you be willing to take us to the ranch?” Mulder inquired. He seemed to be interested in the look in Conley’s eyes.

“I’ll take you to the out road, but I won’t go any farther unless there’s a serious medical emergency.” His voice turned stern. Scully remembered Mulder telling her one time that a large reason people lash out in anger is because they are more afraid then angry. She could see it in the way Conley tensed his knuckles over the arms of the chair and the subtle vein popping out of his temple.

“That’ll be just fine Sheriff.” Mulder stood up and waited for Scully to follow suit. The sheriff grabbed his keys off the desk and they all walked out together.

xXx

The drive down was quiet as Mulder chewed on sunflower seeds and thought about the case. Scully kept her eyes firmly on the SUV in front of them. Eventually the road turned to dirt and the sheriff drove into the shoulder. He waved at them from his rolled down window. Mulder pulled up beside him as Scully rolled her window.

“Just follow that path down there and you can’t miss it.” Scully nodded and rolled up the window. She watched as the sheriff threw his car into drive and tore out of the shoulder. She watched in the rearview mirror as he sped off into nothing more than a cloud of dust. Mulder made their way to the road that the sheriff spoke of and traveled for quite a distance before they were greeted by the starts of fenced off pastures and what looked like a home hidden behind a few large trees.

They pulled up to the house and stepped out of the car into the moderate day. The wind had died down some, but it was enough with the sun at her back to enjoy the breeze. They took stock of the area. It was cleared of sagebrush and tall grass around the house, but beyond that there were cottonwoods and large bushes blocking off portions of the property from vehicle or foot traffic. Scully remembered seeing a pond on their left side just a little ways down the drive way. She walked with Mulder to the house, knocking loudly incase the occupants hadn’t heard them come up the driveway. There was a silence for a beat.

“Can I help you, folks?” Mulder had his hand poised over the door to knock again when a rancher came up wiping his hands with a cloth.

“We’re Agents Mulder and Scully with the FBI.” Mulder pulled out his badge. She deemed it fit to sit next to him, given that unless asked he didn’t need to see hers.

“Sheriff Conley sent you folks down here?” Scully nodded.

“Yes, he informed us that you’ve had a series of cow mutilations on sight and possibly more sinister activities.” She stepped back as the man moved towards his door and let them in. They stepped into a clean home except for a few clothes strewn on the couch, from the looks of it she assumed it was maybe their sons.

“Name’s Tom, and yeah we’ve had some…” He looked back with a suspicious glance as he walked them towards the kitchen. Mulder was busy nosing his way around, but Scully followed Tom’s lead. “What’s it to the FBI anyways?” Tom went over to the sink to wash his hands. “The DoD already came out and talked to me?”

Mulder appeared then. “What did they talk with you about?” Tom eyed them again as he dried his hands with a towel. Scully took stock of the kitchen. She noticed that all the cabinets and doors had sliding locks on them. She turned her attention back to Tom.

“They want me to sell. And I’m thinking about it. They want to come and do some experiments on this land.” Tom seemed hesitant to speak with them. Nothing they hadn’t encountered before, especially when in regards to the X Files. Scully knew this was going to be a conversation similar to a root canal.

“What kind, did they say?” Tom shook his head. “We’re not here to convince you to sell your land, we’re here to hopefully investigate what’s going on around here?” Tom grimaced.

“How is that any different?” Scully gave him credit. Them poking around looking for a cause was no different then what the DoD was probably going to do. Mulder seemed to come to that same conclusion for he appeared to be stunned into silence.

“Mr. Gorman, we’re here to help you. We don’t want to take your land away. We just want to make sure that this threat doesn’t extend to the loss of human life.” Tom turned his steely eyes to Scully. He didn’t say anything in response. Scully felt like part of him did want help, but he didn’t know how to ask or what kind of help he was asking for.

“Let’s start with why you have locks on the cabinets.” Mulder noticed them too. He walked around to one in question.

“Nah, we didn’t do that.” Tom set the towel down and crossed his arms.

“These were here when you bought the house?” Mulder looked in the cabinets, spotting the numerous places where there were locks and latches inside and out of the doors.

“Yeah, on every door and the windows too.” Tom stated, the lingering unease in his voice at even mentioning the odd occurrence. Mulder turned inquisitively, running a hand along the wood of the cabinets. He had turned so that his back was against the counter and he was sticking his head into the cabinet, looking at the inside of it. Scully walked over to investigate with him as he motioned a finger to her. She joined him in looking, having a slightly harder time as she wasn’t as tall as he was.

“Who puts a panic room in the kitchen cabinets?” She inquired as they both noticed the locks on the inside of the cupboards.

“Maybe they were keeping something in, not keeping something out.” He mumbled to her ears alone. Scully rocked back on her heels to get out of Mulder’s space. She didn’t know if it was his smell, his proximity, or the weird way her head was angled that made her dizzy to be near him.

“I don’t know what would be small enough to be locked in, but big enough to be a threat.” She straightened herself as he turned to Tom.

“Can you show me where you found the calf?” Tom nodded solemnly. She could sympathize with him, his dream was to just be a rancher and instead managed to stumble into a big case of trouble. Paranormal or not. The man was losing money at an alarming rate. Between fixing up the house and having to replace the cattle he was losing. Scully could agree that something was going on here, she just didn’t know what it was she was looking at. She followed Tom and Mulder outside where a few cattle were grazing in the pasture and the sun was blazing high in the sky. Scully squinted her eyes at the brightness of the environment.

They walked for a minute heading through the pasture and Scully cursed her heels as she watched carefully where she stepped. After walking a dozen yards into the pasture they came to stop at the edge of a small ravine. Mulder didn’t hesitate in getting down into the ditch to look for something that Tom might have missed. Scully stood where she was at the top of the ravine looking down at him.

“And you said there wasn’t a drop of blood at the scene, despite the appearance of the entrails?” Scully had seen plenty of exsanguinations being Mulder’s partner, but the lack of blood found when the calf’s entrails were placed entirely outside of its body made her squeamish. As a someone who routinely performed autopsies she knew how messy procedures like that could be. Especially on something that still had a beating heart.

“Yeah, had its whole central cavity removed. Lost a dog that day too, ran off, never saw it again.” Mulder kicked around at the rocks. He bent down in the dirt and twisted in place looking for any sign of blood or what could have done the crime.

“Scully, a skin please.” Scully pulled a glove out of her inside pocket and tossed it down to him. He caught it and snapped it on before digging a hand into the dirt and sifting through with his fingers. Scully felt Tom stiffen next to her. She looked at him, but his eyes were far off in the distance. She turned and looked where he was staring at. Then she heard something, Mulder seemed to at the same time as well.

 _We get it on most every night_.

Scully looked around for the sign of a car or something. The music sounded far off, but there didn’t seem to be anything for it to originate from. Mulder climbed out of the ditch and looked around. Scully noticed how the wind had also suddenly stopped.

 _And when that moon gets big and bright_.

Mulder suddenly shot off in one direction. “Mulder!” She started after him, but at a much slower pace as her heels weren’t good for running and not especially in the rocky uneven terrain. She swore to herself that this would be the last time she went running after him without a good explanation. She didn’t even know what they were looking at. The music kept playing, never getting closer, but also never getting farther away.

_It’s a supernatural delight._

Mulder stopped in the middle of a clearing. She could hear running water just past where he stopped. He spun in a circle trying to tell where the sound might have been coming from.

 _Everybody was dancing in the moonlight_.

Mulder finally looked up and Scully followed his gaze. There wasn’t a single cloud in the sky despite the wind earlier. There were no planes they could see. “What is it, Mulder?”

“I believe it’s the good version of that Baha Men song.” She rolled her eyes. That didn’t explain how it was somehow being heard by them this far from the nearest town. There had to be someone playing a massive stereo somewhere.

_Everybody here is out of sight. They don’t bark and they don’t –_

It stopped. Scully turned everywhere to try and look for the cause. They were both looking in opposite of each other for a while until they couldn’t find a definitive cause of the noise. They didn’t see anyone running from the underbrush with a boom box.

“Come on Mulder.” She grabbed the sleeve of his coat and tugged him back towards the house. He turned to look down at her and a mask of fear crossed his expression.

“Scully!” He stepped closer to her and she looked at him inquisitively. He moved his hand to her face and brushed the top of her lip. She saw the red even before he pulled his thumb back. She put her hand to her nose and saw the blood start to coat the back of her hand.

“Mulder, I’m fi – “ Before she could finish her sentence she started to see stars shooting past her eyes and she grabbed onto his lapels for support.

“No, Scully!” He wrapped his arms around her shoulders as she felt herself lose the battle with the stars and fall into darkness.

xXx

Scully woke up groggy and licking the roof of her mouth to try and get some saliva back into her esophagus. Suddenly a cup of water was presented in front of her and she grabbed it hurriedly to greedily chug the contents within. Some water spilt down the side of her mouth, but she was so thirsty she didn’t care. When she finally finished her water did she look around at her surroundings. Mulder had pulled the chair closer to her bed side and was currently holding the sheets with a white knuckle grip.

“Hey.” She managed as she attempted to lubricate her throat.

“Hey.” He said back. His tone was calm, but she could see from the fear in his eyes that he was fighting back tears.

“What did the doctor say?” He gave a watery smile.

“Just dehydrated. The bloody nose could have been caused by the dry air.” Mulder reached over and grabbed her hand. She rubbed her thumb over his knuckles. “For a moment I thought maybe the soul of King’s Harvest had invaded your body.” She smirked at him.

“And I just happened to be throwing my voice at the ranch.” It was his turn to smirk. “I think I’m getting really tired of being seen in a hospital gown.” She fidgeted with the string the was supposed to hold them in place.

“I don’t know, it’s definitely in my top five in regards to your wardrobe.” She quirked an eyebrow at him. She could see the playful tone lighting up his face as their banter continued.

“’In regards to my wardrobe’ implies you have a top five other aspects of me?” She squeezed his fingers. He adjusted his grip so that his index finger was rubbing at the pulse point in her wrist. She was thankful to not be hooked up to a heart monitor.

“Oh, sure. One is ‘top five things you say to prove me wrong’.” She wondered if he could feel her pulse race under the pad of his finger. “Number four will surprise you.” He tapped the inside of her wrist. The door opened and a nurse came in with a clipboard.

“Welcome back, Agent Scully.” She glance quickly between her and Mulder. “Your boyfriend here sure knows how to get our attention.” The nurse gave him a pointed stare. Mulder gave her a blank stare in return.

“He’s not my boyfriend, we’re partners.” The nurse looked down her nose at their joined hands. Scully blushed unconvincingly. “Am I free to go?” The nurse put her chart back at the foot of her bed.

“Oh sure, we just gave you an IV drip to get some fluids in you. I can remove that for you if you’d like to leave now.” Scully nodded. As the nurse walked over to the other side of the bed, Scully shot Mulder a stare. She had been unconscious when they arrived at the hospital, but given her medical history and the fact she had just started to gain back her features that were taken from her through her cancer treatment, she couldn’t imagine Mulder wasn’t untoward to the hospital staff. He didn’t reveal anything except a small squeeze of his hand.

“Alright, all set. Now you just make sure she gets her daily juices tended to.” The nurse looked pointedly at Mulder. “Have a good day, ‘partners’.” She didn’t use air quotes, but Scully could feel them in her soul. Mulder let go of her hand and handed over her clothes. She thanked him and got out of the hospital bed. He got up and walked to the door.

“I’ll just be right outside.” He motioned with his thumb and she nodded in response as she began to put her pants on with the gown still covering her. He walked out the door and shut the privacy curtain. She hurriedly began to redress. This time holding off on the stockings and putting them in her inside pocket. She slipped her heels on and followed Mulder out of the exam room. When she came through the other side of the privacy curtain, Mulder turned around with a water bottle in his hands. He offered it to her with a grin.

“Thank you.” She opened it up and immediately began to drink. She was a little more conscience this time to not make a mess over herself.

“So I want to go back to the ranch, but you can go back to the motel if you aren’t feeling up to it.” He started as she continued drinking. She gave him a look over the bottle to her mouth.

“I don’t like the idea of you going alone.” She put the cap back on the water as he opened his mouth to argue.

“I just don’t want to run the risk of something happening to you.” She squinted her eyes at him as she started to walk past him.

“That’s not really your choice to make now is it?” She could hear his footsteps follow her down the quiet hallway. The sound of her heels echoed down the empty corridor as Mulder caught up to her. As he reached her his phone rang. He answered while holding the door open for her.

“Mulder.” Silence. “Really?” He dug his keys out of his suit pocket as the sun blazed down on them in the desert afternoon. She was glad to have foregone the stockings this time as she felt moisture break out in her armpits. She should leave the jacket in the car too. “Yeah we can be right there.” Mulder hung up the phone and stuffed it back into his coat pocket. She could see a small sheen of sweat dapple his forehead.

“Who was that?” Scully slid into the passenger seat as Mulder fidgeted with the keys to get them in the ignition.

“Tom Gorman. There’s been another cattle mutilation.”


	3. Spinal Expulsion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to say THANK YOU SO MUCH to my Beta Reader DanaScully77! She has been great and has managed to read through my ADHD nonsense and fixed up my work to be presentable for you guys. I hope you enjoy, I probably will only have two to three more chapters after this if I can keep up the pace and the word count.

xXx

“Well, someone could have taken the cow a few days ago and then dumped it here.” She was looking down at the carcass of the cow, stiff and gathering flies. “The likelihood of this happening right here is very low with the lack of physical evidence of a surgery done.” She resisted the urge to cover her mouth as the desert sun baked the corpse Mulder was crouched over it, poking at it with the pen from in his front pocket. They had both left their coat jackets in the car as they pulled up to the Gorman ranch. This time his wife was home with a few children who looked at Scully and Mulder with wide eyes.

“Could you get your livestock vet down here to see if we can take it into be autopsied?” Mulder looked at Tom who had his hat off and waving it between Scully and himself. He wasn’t sure if it was for the flies or the heat.

“Vet’s in Roosevelt; it’ll be about half hour.”

Mulder nodded. “That’ll be fine. Make sure to mention that they can charge the FBI for the visit.”

Tom pressed his lips together before putting his hat back on and walking the almost half mile back to the house. Scully could see the dark stains of sweat on Mulder’s back and arms. She wondered if her dark green blouse made it more or less visible that the heat was getting to her. She looked around at the surrounding area for anything that might indicate that there was an answer to this riddle. Mulder stood up and wiped his hands on his slacks.

“Mulder, do you think maybe this is just local kids having too much free time? There’s a lot of empty space around here, plenty of places to hide.” She turned back to him walking up to her. His usual Scully-this-is-a-bleeping-dead-cow-in-front-of-us-without-its-spinal-cord-probably-not-teenagers look was firmly plastered on his face. His sideburns were flattened against his head from perspiration. “I can’t fathom that a sk-“ she was cut off by him gently putting his finger to his mouth in a shushing motion.

“It’s bad luck to say the name of the beast, especially in its own territory.” She closed her mouth and started again.

“A Native American witch isn’t the cause of this. If not teenagers than maybe a scientist with an abundance of time, but not an abundance of money.” She thought back to their last case. The Great Mutato and the farm shenanigans of the surrounding town. She pushed the thought of his arm wrapped around her waist and the lack of space between them leaving little to be curious about whether he was happy to see her or if he had a tranquilizer gun in his pocket. She crossed her arms as she banished her current train of thought.

“Then what’s your theory?” They started to walk back to the house, very little shade graced their presence as she had hoped it would.

“In the 1950’s Nevada did several nuclear tests – “

“Yeah, Nuketown, USA.”

“– resulting in radiation being thrown into the atmosphere. What could be attributed to paranormal circumstances could very well be nuclear fallout from the tests done decades ago. Long term exposure to radiation can cause immediate effects such as lassitude, nausea, bloody vomit, low blood pressure, hair loss, fever, dizziness, paresthesia, and disorientation as well as the more permanent damage such as cancer, severe burns that could result in nerve damage and several other maladies. What these people are seeing may not be a sh – “

Mulder raised his hand to presumably put a finger to his lips, but she gave him a sidelong glance instead.

“– apeshifter, but instead the overactive imagination of people who live with these stories and their minds have been weakened by the presence of RF radiation.” A rustle of bushes next to them quickly silenced her lecturing. They stopped. They were still a quarter mile from the house. The bushes were approximately 150 yards from them, and they could see the leaves rattling along the creek bank. Given the heat of the day and the humidity in Scully’s bra, there was no wind. They both drew their guns as Mulder stepped in front to get closer to the disturbance. Scully couldn’t hear any voices as they watched the bushes sway here and there. Whatever it was, seemed to be stalking the perimeter of the brush. Before they could get more than a few feet in the direction of the noise the brush burst open and something came running at them.

The only problem was they couldn’t see what it was. Scully could see the dirt getting kicked up by something coming after them, but there wasn’t a visible body to fire their guns at. Instead Mulder turned and grabbed her hand to start sprinting towards the house. She could hear snarling and growls, but she had never heard the sounds this animal was making before. She kept her gun in her other hand and dared a glance behind them, whatever was chasing them was closing the distance, faster than either of them. Mulder let go of her hand and aiming his gun, turned on the creature. Still there didn’t seem to be anything for them to get visuals on, but Scully could hear the pounding of feet as she stopped and turned with him, holding her gun steady as the dust rustled in front of them.

Mulder took a shot. She thought she heard the bullet hit something, but she couldn’t see anything to be sure. The sound of the gun echoed in the otherwise quiet field around them. She could hear yelling coming from the direction of the house. There was no yelp of an animal in pain, so she assumed that whatever it was, hadn’t been hit. As it got less than six feet in front of them it stopped, or at least she thought it stopped. She could hear the growling getting closer and before she could register that it had jumped, meaning to land on her, Mulder grabbed her arm and pulled her against him. The sound of feet in dirt was followed by more dust being kicked up as the creature, whatever it was, went sprinting towards the ridge. The yelling from the house was getting louder and she turned to see Tom and another young boy come running up to them. Tom was holding a large rifle.

“Agents!” Tom yelled once the blood slowed in her ears so she could hear again.

“We have to follow it.” Scully turned as Mulder looked ready to start off after whatever it was.

“Follow what? We couldn’t even see what it was!” She put the hand holding her gun to her side as Tom and his son came running up to them, winded and worried.

“We heard the shot.” Tom started.

“Something attacked us from those bushes over there.” Scully summarized. Mulder stayed where he was, but kept his eyes glued to the north where the creature had gone, toward the ridge on the property.

“Did you get a shot in it?” Mulder turned to them finally.

“I don’t know.” They all looked at each other, attempting to process the last five minutes. “We should see where it went.” Mulder looked toward the ridge.

Tom and his son followed his gaze. “If you plan on going up there to find it, then Tad and I aren’t going.”

Mulder looked back at them. Scully felt something sharp and unsettling blossom in her chest. “I agree with them, Mulder. We can look to see where it might have come from.” The feeling of malaise was almost overwhelming at the thought of going up on the ridge. She was a scientist and a doctor, and this shouldn’t give her the rotten feeling in her stomach and make her hands tingle at the thought of climbing a ridge.

Mulder gave her a once over before agreeing and the four of them started in the direction of the copse of trees where the creature had emerged from. Tom looked down at the ground for prints that the creature might have left behind. The dirt was scuffed and there were signs of a disturbance, but Tom looked to be having a hard time distinguishing what it was that chased after the FBI agents. As they neared the bushes Mulder could see that there was a collection of broken branches. Presumably from the creature as it gave chase after the FBI agents. He looked through the hole in the brambles and reached his hand into the shadows.

When his hand returned, he had what looked like a clump of hair between his fingers. Scully reached into her pants pocket and gave him a bag before he could ask. He carefully put the clump of hair in the bag and she sealed it. She looked at Tom and his son as they looked puzzled at the hole. His son seemed queasy and she thought she saw his face pale. She felt her heart go out to him thinking about the kind of things that were happening to the family. The thought of a childhood marked by the causality of the unexplained made her look at Mulder. Would this boy beside them have to contend with a scar that this ranch would permanently ingrain into his life that would be irreversible to come back from? Would she hear about this boy some day after the X-Files and think of this moment with her heart still racing in her chest and a cold sweat running down her spine? She blinked and noticed that Mulder was in the middle of conversing with Tom.

“- eature is intelligent somehow.” Mulder had finished, his eyes darting to Scully as if sensing her reintroduction to this moment in time.

“I don’t know about that, but I do know that whatever it is, is dangerous.” Tom shifted feet, rifle on his hip. “If my cattle are anything to go by.” Scully thought back to the decomposing cow less than a mile from their current location and flicked the plastic evidence bag in her palm. “Let’s get out of this heat and wait for the vet.” Scully saw the sweat stains forming around Mulder’s neck and she doubted she looked any better. The end of August heat was nearly unbearable.

“Lead the way, boss.” Mulder said without a hint of sarcasm, maybe the heat was getting to him too. They began their trek back to the house and Mulder tapped her hip with a few outstretched fingers, “What’s going on up there, Scully?” She could tell that he slowed his gait to keep in step with her. They were now quite a few steps away from Tom and his son.

“It feels like were being watched.” She could feel the hairs on the back of her neck standing on end and despite the heat, a chill ran through her body as she allowed the thing she had been feeling since the creature ran off towards the ridge to be voiced for the first time.

“A feeling we seem to have become accustomed to.” He chided. She could tell it came from a place of resentment at the shadow society that had labeled them problematic.

“This feels different, Mulder.” She could see the house getting closer and a hot breeze started through the trees. She thought she saw some dust coming up from the road they used to get to the ranch. She squinted into the sun, but she couldn’t distinguish any solid forms from her perspective. She felt vulnerable as she walked side by side with her partner out in the open grass of the field. They neared the house and Scully went to the car to put the evidence bag in the glove compartment least they lose it in transporting the dead cow from here to the vet.

“Hey, Scully?” The sound of Mulder’s voice breaking through her internal monologue startled her into bumping her head against the roof of the car. She rubbed her head as she slid out and looked at him leaning on the open car window, his gaze caught between worried and amused. She narrowed her eyes at him. His eyes darted all over her face and took one quick trip down her entire body before he had a small shit-eating-grin on his face. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to smack off his face or kiss him until he stopped looking at her like that.

“Yes, Mulder?” She crossed her arms, the evidence bag crinkling in her fingers.

“I told you I’d get your body.” Scully knew he was referring to the dead cow decomposing in the field, but the heat of his stare riveled the heat currently coming from the sun baked car behind her. He swung idly on the door; it made a soft squeaking as he did so. She raised an eyebrow at him to hide the flush that no doubt was creeping its way up her body.

“A man true to his word.” She commented before she turned to lean her way back into the car and put the evidence bag in the glove compartment.

“Agents!” Tom called from his porch. Scully pulled herself out of the stifling car and turned around to see Mulder had turned towards the rancher. “Vet’s on his way!” Mulder gave him a thumbs up and Scully took advantage of his distraction to slam the door shut, making him fall back slightly before he caught himself on his back foot. She hid her smile as she walked towards the house.

She could hear Mulder follow behind her. Tom was sitting in a seat on his porch, the door was open, but the screen door closed. Scully opened it and stepped inside to see the wife sitting at the counter. She was cutting some vegetables and putting them in individual boxes, probably for her children’s lunches.

“Good Afternoon, Mrs. Gorman.” Ellen looked up briefly at Scully before returning to her work. Scully stepped forward into the kitchen again. “I’m Dana Scully with the FBI.” She held out her badge, but Ellen didn’t look up, her husband most likely informing her of who they were. “I wanted to ask about the occurrences you’ve experienced here at the ranch.” She continued slicing, the sound of the knife on the wood cutting board making rhythmic chops, the only sound in the air. Behind her she turned briefly to see Mulder continue walking down the hall into what she thought might be the living room. She turned back to the woman at the counter.

“This house ain’t natural.” She had a distinct drawl to her speech. “You know I thought it was me. I thought I was showing signs of serious illness.” Scully knew all too familiar what it was to live with the idea that she would eventually be a husk of former as a disease made itself resident in her body. Hopefully for Mrs. Gorman’s sake whatever was going on could be easily taken care of. “Name’s Ellen.” She reached out, putting the knife on the counter. Scully reached over and shook her hand. “I always dreamed of living out here on a ranch. The peace and quiet is much more my lifestyle than Salt Lake City.” She scrunched up her face at the thought of the big city. Scully, having lived in several places as a navy brat had made her indifferent to where her head rest at night. “We don’t normally go shopping, but in the beginning we hadn’t had the garden up yet, so we would go into town for supplies.” She idly continued chopping vegetables. Scully watched with her arms crossed.

“So, we would get weeks’ worth of groceries. I had spent all day on my feet shopping, came home to put all the groceries away, and then went upstairs to go to the bathroom.” She finished chopping and put all the lunch boxes in the fridge. “I wasn’t gone more than five minutes.” She turned back to Scully; she began to clean up the leftovers. “All the groceries were back on the counter in the bags just as if I had just come home.” Scully shifted her feet as she looked quickly at the locks on the cabinets. “I thought maybe it was the kids, but even if they can get up to hijinks sometimes, they aren’t fast enough to do that. It was like I hadn’t put them away at all. Everything was even put back in the bags that I brought them in.” Scully eyed the area. The kitchen had two entrances, the one she was standing in and one directly across from her on the other side of the kitchen that presumably lead to the living room. She thought she heard more talking coming from upstairs.

“Do you think someone living in the area might be unsatisfied with your move into the ranch?” Ellen gave her a look as she put her dishes into the sink and washed her hands.

“No, and they’d have to run quite a while to just put my groceries back in the bags.” She turned back as she dried her hands with a kitchen towel that was hanging on the oven. She stood at the counter, reaching for her glass of tea.

“Has anyone around town made mention to you or your husband that they were planning something to cause harm against you and your family?” Ellen took a long sip of her tea. Scully waited patiently as she couldn’t seem to tear her eyes from the locks on the cabinets. The sight was startling in an otherwise quaint home. The idea that someone had been propelled by enough fear to put locks on every door, window, and cabinet inside and out was something she had never felt for herself. She was momentarily engulfed in the feeling of laying so helplessly in the hospital beds as the cancer and the chemo slowly drained her of her life. She was brought back to the present as Ellen started to speak again.

“Every small town has their rumors, but none of them have ever been outwardly antagonistic.” Scully nodded as she felt a presence behind her. She turned ever so slightly to see the dark color of Mulder’s suit jacket in the corner of her eye. The sound of the screen door filled the silence of the kitchen.

“Vet’s here.”

xXx

After the autopsy of the cow had been completed, Scully had interesting information, but she wasn’t sure if it was the information that Mulder would be looking for. She took her jacket off and threw it on a hanger to place in the makeshift closet the hotel had provided for the room. She walked to the bathroom to get the scent of antiseptic off her hands before she broke the news to Mulder. Before she had time to finish washing her face with a quick water rinse there was a distinct knocking on her door.

“One second!” She called as she hurried to dry her face off. She walked first to her front door to look out the peephole to see no one standing there. She then went to the door joining their rooms and unlocked it for him. She had previously unlocked it to check in on him and then decided to lock it before they left in case their evidence was deemed too valuable and burned or absconded with as was prone to happening. She opened the door with the towel to her face in one hand and her other hand on the door handle. Mulder had a file in his hands as he walked in without looking up from the pages in front of him. She stepped out of his way and followed him, leaving the door open behind her. She went back to the bathroom to hang up the hand towel she had used on her face.

“How did the autopsy go?” Scully turned around to see Mulder had made himself comfortable on her bed. She could see he had procured a bag of sunflower seeds seemingly out of no where and was chewing on a few seeds stuffed into his cheek. She resisted the urge to groan as she forcibly removed her eyes from the way his tongue danced at the edges of his pouty lips. She walked back to the bathroom, grabbing the small trash can there and taking it over to Mulder. She would not be subjected to his inability to clean up after himself. She dropped the trash can with a clatter at his side and he looked at her from underneath his eyelashes. Before he could comment, she turned around on her heel and walked to the edge of the bed.

“The cow didn’t have any blood missing from the body, but it did die in a way that is unnatural for its age.” She reached down to start taking off her high heels. She hadn’t had time to grab some flats after the vet arrived. It was nearly sundown and she could see the golden rays of light cutting through the blinds to her room. She rubbed her feet out of their stiffened positions in her high heels.

“You mean besides its spine being removed?” Mulder’s words were muffled as he pulled shells out of his mouth and put them in the trash can next to him.

“That wasn’t what killed it. The cow died from pneumonia.” She shot a glance back as she was arched over forward, rubbing her foot to see Mulder’s face remained unchanged. “The pneumonia was brought on by stress. Sometimes when certain animals experience extreme stressors, they lower their immune system in response and therefore are susceptible to diseases that may prove to be fatal. Humans do this subconsciously, being in a highly stressful environment can weaken our bodies to external forces like disease and therefore we find ourselves much more likely to fight an ailment while also being mentally fatigued.” Mulder closed the files on his lap and tossed them on her side of the bed.

“So, you’re saying that something stressed out this cow so badly that its body became a hotbed for pneumonia and keeled over and then decided to eject its own spine?” Scully gave him an exasperated glance, but nodded as she stood up, putting her shoes by the door and getting herself a water bottle from the minifridge. Her stomach rumbled and she ignored it until she could propose dinner for the two of them.

“As best as the vet or I could tell the cow was perfectly healthy save for the pneumonia.” She took long gulps of her water before continuing. “So, unless one of pneumonia’s symptoms is projectile expulsion of the spine, we couldn’t find any reason why that could be missing under natural circumstances.” Mulder made a noise of affirmation behind her. She sat back down on the edge of the bed. The water feeling like a blessing having been running around the ranch all day only to spend the next few hours staring at a cow corpse.

“Do you think the thing that came after us also went after the cow?” Scully played with the cap to the water bottle as she thought back to the seemingly invisible creature that had chased after them. They had dealt with a few cases where things were for all apparent reasons’ unseen to the naked eye, but they had been later identified. The ‘mothmen’ as Mulder had called them were at first perceived as invisible, but after examining the dead body it was found that they were simply supremely adapted to camouflage in their environment. Maybe whatever had chased after them was simply adept at blending into the surrounding environment.

“The way the spine was extracted from the cow’s body was too precise for it to have been cherry picked by an animal and consumed elsewhere from the body.” She stood up to toss out her water bottle as she finished the last few sips. She stretched her arms above her head and closed her eyes as she felt her back muscles loosen. “Can we talk about this over dinner, or are you satisfied with your spits?” She opened her eyes a fraction to see Mulder with his head halfway to the trash can as he was in the process of spitting some more shells into the wastebasket. She enjoyed the moments when she was the one to catch _him_ off guard. She put her arms down and hid her smirk by turning to the table to see what kind of room service they had available if any.

“Yeah, uh just give me a second to wash my hands. What were you thinking?” She heard him move off the bed and walk behind her as she saw a little pamphlet no more than a single page with the menu of the restaurant attached to the motel. Mulder walked to her bathroom and took a moment to wash his hands and look at her through the mirror that faced the rest of the room. His eyes slid sideways to look inside the bathroom. The door was open just slightly and he could barely make out the edge of the toilet and a portion of the tub that wasn’t covered by the pulled back curtain. His mind flashed with a hundred different images from the five years that they had been working together and the various compromising positions that they had seen each other in. His mind suddenly flooded with flashes of skin – albeit the glimpses he was afforded were in between either of them facing imminent death – that he had been privy to in their five years of partnership. He closed his eyes for a second to try and shake the thoughts from his mind as he walked closer to dry his hands on the towel that was hanging by the door. As if possessed by some unknown force he tapped the door open slightly and it swung open revealing more of the bathroom. He hadn’t known what it was he expected to find in there, but his heart stopped as all the blood in his body pooled just below his belt rather than keeping his heart pumping. On the edge of the bathtub there was a small cylindrical shaped item.

He was a grown man and prided himself in the fact that he was a more mature specimen than the majority of his peers, but to see the item that had brought Scully to orgasm – calling out his name none the less – not sixteen hours ago left him with very little sanity. He dropped the towel on the counter and with a quick side glance to Scully – who was leaning over the desk, looking at a menu, not at all looking his way – darted into the bathroom, shutting the door as soon as he got in.

“Mulder, you alright?” Her voice was muffled by the closed door.

“Yeah, just – “he gulped. “– had to use the restroom.” She made a noise on the other side of the door, but he couldn’t hear her moving. He let the breath he had been holding out through his nose and turned to face the bathtub. His mind whirling back to this morning when he was on the opposite side of the wall, listening to the way Scully moaned his name as she brought herself to climax with the item staring him down like it was the barrel of a gun. He couldn’t step outside sporting the straining hard on he had managed to pop the moment he saw it. He put the toilet seat down and sat with his head in his hands. He closed his eyes until he saw spots and tried to think of things that might alleviate the pressure in his pants. Every time he opened his eyes the little bullet stared right back at him and he had to repeat the process all over again. After several moments of attempting to calm the blood rush in his pants he still hadn’t gotten it under control and decided he was going to have to get out of the bathroom eventually. He doubted Scully would let him spend the night in her bathtub.

“Mulder, I got you your usual, are you okay in there?” Mulder stood up abruptly as Scully wrapped at the door. Mulder looked down at the pressing bulge in his pants and pressed his lips together in a thin line. He pulled his shirt out of his slacks and quickly adjusted his erection to lay pressed against his stomach, held firm by his belt. He did his best to make his shirt cover the worst part of his erection and quickly flushing the toilet, he slid out of the bathroom, nearly bumping into Scully as she was standing just barely a foot from the frame. He made sure to close the door behind him as he was pressed between Scully and the solid form of the bathroom door behind him. He gave a half-hearted smiled and did his best to keep his eyes directly on Scully as not to draw attention to his current handicap.

“Yeah, sorry. When’s food going to be here?” He tried to shoo her off as he side-stepped her to head back to the sink to wash his hands. She looked in the mirror at him with a raised eyebrow. He nearly doubled over as he used his hunched posture to hide his erection. She stayed silent for a moment before turning around to sit on her side of the bed with the menu in hand.

“I just ordered from the diner a few rooms down. They’ll make it but someone’s got to go pick it up in fifteen minutes or so. They don’t deliver.” She shrugged and put the paper menu on her nightstand. He closed his eyes for a minute and willed his erection to ease itself. He turned around and hoped that it wasn’t so obvious that he was still stiff as a board while in his partner’s hotel room. He walked over to the other side of the bed and did his best to sit in a way that didn’t put him on display.

“I don’t mind running to get it when the time comes.” She turned to him and gave him a thin smile of thinly veiled relief. Mulder leaned back on the wall, putting on a socked foot on the bed to block her view of his pelvis.

“Are you feeling alright, Mulder?” Ever the doctor. He gave a curt nod and looked at the case file next to them.

“So, while I was speaking with the kids, they let me know that there was another homestead just about a mile west of the one where they live.” Mulder fiddled with the file a little. “The boys found it one day when they were out wrangling cattle.” Scully quirked an eyebrow at him.

“It is a large ranch, there’s bound to be other settlements on the property.” She affirmed.

“Yeah, this one has been abandoned for some time from what the boys said. They told me that they used to go out there after school and mess around until they started to come back to the house sick and covered in burns.” Scully leaned back on the bed, supporting herself with her elbows.

“Were these boys playing with fire by chance?” She gave an incredulous glance at him. He shook his head.

“No, they showed me some of the burns and they looked like chemical burns.” Scully hummed as she looked away towards the bathroom. His heart stopped for a second as he thought that she might head that way.

“This only proves my point that the occurrences happening around here are caused by the windfall of radiation from the tests done in the Nevada desert.” She rolled her head back to look at him. “Those burns could be from a deposit of radiation. The only danger here is unregulated uranium in the ground.” Mulder mulled over her input. “The real villain here is real estate mismanagement that didn’t warn the Gorman’s about the potential for there to be decaying radiation on the premises.”

“Well, with that being said, I think we should check out the site tomorrow.” Scully gave him a pointed glance.

“The likelihood of either of us experiencing radiation poisoning to the degree that would be fatal should be deterrent enough that we steer perfectly clear of that area.” She huffed in exasperation at her partner’s ability to throw himself into such reckless danger. “Let alone the chance that you or I could develop serious injury by being so close to somewhere that might have any amount of predators living in that would sooner attack us than let us poke around with our badges.” She raised some valid points. But Mulder was itching to visit the site. The boys had regaled to him a story that he had to simply attest for himself. His faith in extraterrestrial life may have been shaken after Scully’s cancer diagnosis and recovery, but his belief in other cryptids still thrived in his veins. The government couldn’t be responsible for _every_ strange creature that this planet had to offer. They could barely afford to get them reasonable rooms let alone pay hundreds of more people to implement a cryptid sighting department.

“Fifteen minutes. That’s all I’m asking.” Scully grimaced at the idea. The rational part of her mind was screaming that she had just come out of a severe cancer diagnosis and she wasn’t keen on either of them potentially experiencing something of equal threat so quickly. “Come on, you heard the music playing earlier. Where did it come from? I think there’s someone living in that homestead.” Scully was perplexed by the random musical interference they had experienced, and the most plausible source would be squatters living in an abandoned home on the same property.

“What if we only find whatever left those prints outside the car this morning?” She tried to avoid the precursor to her leaving the car and finding those paw prints, but her mind could only focus on the defined ridge under Mulder’s slacks.

“Scout’s honor I will run slower than you to give you more time to escape.” He held up a hand and made an ‘x’ motion over his heart. She rolled her eyes and stood up from the bed.

“You should go get dinner now.” Mulder nearly sprung at the mention of food. He quickly vanished into his room and came back a moment later with his shoes on and coat on.

“I’ll be back in just a minute.” He left out her door and with him gone Scully made a beeline for the bathroom. What had caused Mulder to start acting so strangely had been on her mind the entire time. She opened the door and sucked in a deep gulp of air. There on the edge of the tub, her little silver bullet. She felt her face flush red and suddenly the way Mulder was crouching over everything and posturing on the bed made sense. She darted forward, grabbing the vibrator, and hurried to wash it off in the sink. She saw her skin was flushed a deep red as she glanced at the mirror in front of her. She made quick work to get it dry and shoved it in her suitcase. She must have forgotten it after this morning. She tried to make the blush on her skin even out to her natural skin tone as she just kept thinking about outline of Mulder’s dick in his slacks this morning. Her core throbbed as she made a sidelong glance at where he had been sitting on the other side of the bed. How he had attempted to hide the erection he had had just feet from her. Again. Thankfully, this time he hadn’t started moaning her name which would have no doubt sent her into another frenzy of hormones.

She brushed her hair back as she looked at the door. This was going to be an interesting dinner to say the least.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys enjoyed, please feed my kudo monster


	4. Peak Physical Performeance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to my lovely beta reader, she puts up with my exhausted ramblings to give you guys something that you can actually read.

Mulder had made his way to the diner with little to no hassle. Speaking with Scully had calmed his nerves and he was practically a normal man when he walked into the diner. He had half expected to see the young girl from earlier, but instead there was a middle-aged man drying off silverware with a towel and placing them into three separate piles. He barely offered a glance at Mulder as he continued in his work. Mulder stepped closer, he saw that there was a man standing next to a bag full of Styrofoam boxes.

“I have an order pick-up.” Mulder made eyes at the bag. The man halted for a second and looked at Mulder this time. He looked at the bag next to him unimpressed.

“Name?” Mulder pressed his lips together at the man’s bored tone.

“Hm, ‘Scully’?” The man looked back at Mulder with narrowed eyes. He made a nearly imperceptible shake of his head. “Mulder than?” The man motioned with his elbow to the bag. Mulder pulled a few dollars out of his pocket and set it on the counter. Mulder grabbed the bag and started to make his way out the diner. Just as he was going to reach for the handle he heard a feminine voice call from behind him.

“Hey, Wolfman!” Mulder cocked an eyebrow before turning around. It was the girl from earlier. Her name tag came flashing to the front of his mind. Evie was taking off her apron and walking around the counter. “Bye, Harry!” The man behind the counter gave a barely-there-smile as she turned back around to walk up to Mulder. “I’m sorry, I didn’t get your name earlier, but I remember your order.” He held the door open for her as she walked past him. She was pull her hair out of the high ponytail and instead wrapped it up in a loose bun on top of her head. Her bright yellow scrunchy nearly glowing in the dusk light.

“Special Agent Fox Mulder, but please just call me Mulder.” She gave him half a glance behind her. Her fringe bag wrapped around her shoulders had hit his thigh on her way out. “I can only imagine what you would have said had my partner been the one to pick up the food.” He could nearly see in his minds eye the look on Scully’s face when she was referred to as Fruit Cup.

“Did you guys check out the Gorman ranch today? I heard there was another dead cow found on the ranch.” Mulder quirked an eyebrow at her as he started to walk down the hall to his room.

“Word travels fast around here it seems.” She shrugged, her hair falling to the side as she put on her neon windbreaker that looked like it might have belonged to her mother. He remembered his mother’s constant complaining of the bright colored fads that seemed to have taken over America while he was away at Oxford. _Oh, Fox these girls just bring such attention to themselves. Driving down the street they nearly cause crashes looking like safety cones grew legs and started directing the sidewalk_.

“You know if you want someone to talk about the Gorman Ranch you should come down to the reservation.” Mulder turned his head inquisitively at her. He took in her appearance and glanced briefly at his watch. “I’m sure the elders would be willing to talk to you.” She had a slight skip to her step as if she hadn’t just worked a full shift. Mulder’s knees were sore from the walk to and from the diner to his room. The back and forth on the ranch had done a number on his knees. The uneven ground and random rocks were not the same as his usually running terrain. “I could put in a good word with them for you.”

“A generous offer I’m sure.” He twiddled with the handle of the bag. “I might take you up on that offer after we go out there tomorrow.” She made a humming sound and followed him until they got to the junction of the parking lot and the hallway to his and Scully’s rooms.

“I work tomorrow morning, too. If you come down to the diner, I’ll have the information for you.” He dug around in his pockets and produced his card.

“If we happen to get sidetracked, call me at this number and my partner and I will come have a chat.” She took it out of his hand and spun it a few times within her fingertips as if it was a specimen of some sort. She quickly stuffed it into her pocket, zipping up the pocket. She gave a cheery smile and her hair flopped over onto the other side of her head.

“Sure thing, Wolfman.” She turned on her heel and started walking into the parking lot. He watched her for a moment until she made her way to the sidewalk, the wind starting to pick up something fierce. He could see down past the buildings the look of a dust devil just beyond the town limits. He made his way back to Scully’s room and fumbled with the door handle before Scully must have heard him struggling and opened the door for him. He gave her a sheepish grin and snuck into the room just as a massive gust of wind pressed at his back. The wind had sent dirt and the smell of sagebrush through her door. He toed off his shoes at her door and she grabbed the food from him. She started pawing through the bag, looking into the boxes like some sort of trash digging rodent. She barely looked up to see where she was going as she made quick work of distinguishing which meal was hers.

“Thanks, Mulder.” She sat on the foot of the bed as she pulled out her box and set his next to her. He shrugged off his jacket, tossing it on the chair next to him. She glanced up at that with an immaculately raised eyebrow. He felt his face flush at her warning stare and grabbed the jacket to throw on his bed in his room. She had her food out by the time he had come back and was making quick work of the food within the box. He grabbed his food and sat back at the head of the bed, his head leaning on the headboard as he opened the box to reveal his food. He was careful to step around the trash can now littered with sunflower seeds as he let his legs dangle off the side of the bed. There was a beat of silence, except for the loud gusting of wind outside her window, before either of them spoke. Each was enjoying the compatible silence as they ate. Finally, Scully turned from her position to partially face him at the foot of the bed.

“Where’d you go today?” She had her fork halfway to her mouth as she finished her question. He set his food next to him and felt around in his pockets before pulling out the evidence bag, she had stashed for him earlier. He set it on the nightstand next to him.

“I sent a sample down to the college in Salt Lake to see if their lab had the equipment to tell us what this is.” He covered his mouth with his hand to finish chewing. “They said they would be able to get back to me hopefully tomorrow, or early the next day.” Scully nodded as she continued to eat. “We have also been invited to speak with some people down at the reservation.” Scully raised an eyebrow as she scrapped at the Styrofoam box with the plastic fork.

“Was this during your adventure today?” She closed her box and dabbed at her face with a creased napkin. She made precise movements with the napkin around her mouth and Mulder had to take a second to watch before he remembered she had asked him a question.

“Hm, no, actually. The diner girl said we could come down and speak to some of the elders.” Scully stood up and threw away the box in the trash can right next to him. She looked over the lid of his box and stole a French fry before he could object.

“Would we be doing that before or after we go investigate the potentially radioactive homestead on the property?” Mulder, making sure to pout heavily at having his food stolen, crossed his arms as he watched after her.

“Well, I was thinking after, but if you’re so adverse to going to the other homestead than you could go for both of us.” He watched as she rolled her eyes at him and he uncrossed his arms to finish eating.

“As much as I don’t like the idea of us going to that homestead, I like the idea of you potentially being exposed to high doses of radiation on your own much less.” He smirked a bit at the remark.

“Scully, if I didn’t know any better, I would say you were worried about me.” He narrowed his eyes at her as she was cleaning up the foot of the bed. A habit she seemed to have developed since sharing an office with him. She turned to him and threw her plastic knife at him. He gave a small smile as he managed to dodge it, the sound of the plastic bouncing off the headboard next to his ear.

“The paperwork for reporting a dead partner is more than I or Skinner are willing to invest on you.” He found the knife and threw it in the trash next to him along with the Styrofoam box that held his food. He hid a smirk as he turned his head to the nightstand. “What do you think this thing is, Mulder?” She sat on the end of the bed, one leg drawn up under her.

“Well there’s the sigbin of Philippian culture. They can turn themselves invisible to humans. They have a propensity for draining the life out of someone, much like a vampire would, but they do so not through sucking the blood, but through the victim’s shadow.” The napkin in his hands making a soft rustling noise in between his answer.

“That would be an interesting theory if we lived on the equatorial archipelago of the Philippine islands, but we’re several latitudes north of that.” Mulder had to admit quietly to himself that even for him that possibility was far stretched. Truth be told he had very little idea what was going on at this ranch. His unyielding faith in aliens has wavered since Scully’s cancer remission. He couldn’t be certain that what was going on here was extraterrestrial, but he was sure that _something_ was going on here, and he was admittedly excited to find out what. He hadn’t felt the excitement like this for a case since before Scully was diagnosed. He had maybe let it get to his head a little in his eagerness to get out here, but he had been itching for a new case after their last one had brought them to the town of genetically modified citizens.

If the feeling of Scully cradled in his arms while they both swayed to the crooning voice of Cher had anything to do with his sudden interest in cases again than that was between him and his diary.

“I don’t actually have any idea what might be going on here. Aspects of this case can be found in several of the case files down in the basement, but almost never all of them occurring simultaneously, let alone in the same location.” Mulder interlocked his fingers behind his head as he leaned against the headboard. He toed off his shoes before making a show of putting his legs fully on the bed. Scully watched his legs as they crossed a few times to get comfortable on the bed before she stood up and opened the wardrobe to reveal her TV.

“Well, unless we get a call that another cow has dropped dead of intense spinal expulsion, I am going to put on some dumb hallmark movie and write up my report.” Scully started flicking through the channels as Mulder made a face at her. She had her back to him, missing his look of disgust. He would much rather watch Plan 9 From Outerspace for the 40th time before he indulged on a romantic comedy. Or god forbid a holiday themed romantic comedy.

“Well, if you’re set to gorge yourself on th – “

“Oh! Mulder look, they’re doing a special showing of _Space Jam_.” Mulder halted his tirade as she turned quickly to him. The flashy title cards displaying the actor’s names lighting the screen behind Scully. “I wanted to see this before I was diagnosed, but then I completely forgot about it afterwards.” Mulder tried to refrain from wincing as she spoke with such nonplus regarding her brush with death. She was watching as they panned out to give a quick tour of _Moron Mountain_ when she spoke of her desire to see the movie. She turned back to him with a small smile on her face. He quickly recovered from the awful taste in his mouth as his heart stuttered at seeing the true joy in her face. He had his mouth hanging slightly open from his attempt at a statement earlier. “What?” She set the remote on the TV and walked towards her side of the bed.

“Nothing, I just didn’t think you’d want to see a kid’s movie.” She smirked at him as she started to rummage through her suitcase.

“I used to watch looney toons when I was a child. It brings back fond memories of the four of us crowding around a single tv every Sunday to watch Bugs Bunny outsmart Elmer Fudd.” Mulder closed his mouth and swallowed hard as his eyes couldn’t help but drift to the way her shirt had been pulled out of her skirt and was riding up on her back. He could just see the outline of her ouroboros tattoo, and he was overcome with the desire to kiss the inked flesh. He took a deep breath and tried to watch as the cartoon aliens spoke on the screen. “Besides, it has two things you enjoy, aliens and basketball.” She gave a cheeky grin, and he couldn’t find it in him to argue with her that he wasn’t sure that little grey men were interested in visiting this planet to take human children and cows alike. She sat up with some clothes in her hands, “Let me get changed and we can watch it together.” There was the distinct higher pitch towards the last part of her sentence which indicated that she was asking him to stay more than she was demanding he would stay. She fiddled with the clothes in her hands while she finished her comment.

“I mean it is your room. I could just close my eyes.” He tried to recover his typical smarmy attitude. Her eyes went wide before she shuffled off to the bathroom. He was only slightly disappointed she hadn’t taken him up on the offer, but he was also glad for the reprieve as he was already half mast at seeing the bare skin of her back. He wasn’t sure if it was his dry spell causing him to react so quickly to the sight of Scully’s exposed midriff or if it was just the reaction, he would always have to her exposing any part of herself. He waited until he heard the bathroom door click before he kicked off the bed and hurried to his room. He made quick work of his pants and dug through his suitcase with abandon to search for his sweats. He would normally just be in his boxers, but he had heard that the nights here could be bitterly cold even in the summer. He wouldn’t be caught freezing under thread bare sheets because he didn’t want to pack the appropriate clothes. He managed to slide on the carpet with his socked feet in time to hear the door to the bathroom open and he scrambled to lay on the bed before she could turn around. She had her clothes bundled up in her arms as she turned to give a quick dart of her eyes to his change in attire, but she didn’t outright say anything.

She set her clothes on the bed and started to fold them up as the movie continued in the background. She would occasionally take her eyes off the clothes to watch the movie. He tried to stay focused on the movie but kept darting his eyes to watch Scully move about her room. Finished folding she made sure to put the clothes from today in her suitcase, placing them in a mesh laundry bag before placing them in the bag. He was constantly amused at the steps she took to look as pristine as she normally looked. He found himself almost thrilled as he thought about all the times, she had allowed him to see her in a light that wasn’t always flattering. He thought of the times when he had seen his partner vulnerable. A particular moment when she held a gun to him came up several times. The rate at which they pointed guns at each other was growing at an alarming rate and he would be hard pressed to deny that it would decrease in frequency as they continue their partnership.

He leaned back on the headboard once again as he watched the combination of animated characters and basketball players ran around on the screen. The light from the bathroom and the tv the only two sources of light in the room. Scully was sitting on the edge of the bed with her hands in her lap as she watched Bugs Bunny run circles around Daffy Duck on the court. She had her mouth slightly open as she continued to watch the movie. He was brought back to the first year they had been together.

Her t-shirt was stretched at the neck, showing a good expanse of her neck and shoulders. His eidetic memory drawing up the image of standing in the supply closet of the research center in Alaska. He hadn’t initially set out to grab for her in that moment, but after lowering himself to her eye level and seeing the conflict in her steely blue eyes he had wanted to convince her someway that he wasn’t a threat. The surety in her motions as she pushed and prodded the muscles of his back had managed to stir up several emotions within him. He was confident that it was a mixture of endorphins running through his veins from being threatened with a gun, and also the underlying attraction he had already felt to Scully so early in their partnership, but after hearing her gasp in surprise he was immensely grateful that she had gone first through the door.

Her little gasp would be a key feature in his fantasies for the next few years; so much so that any attempt at watching his usual films would have to be muted so that they wouldn’t drown out the memory of her exclamation.

He shifted himself on the bed as the sound came to the forefront of his mind and he pulled his leg up close to his chest to cover the stiffening erection making its presence known to him. Not acknowledging his movements, she stood up to gather up her laptop and with her eyes still glued to the TV, she propped up her laptop on her side of the bed. The heavy thing nearly shaking the whole bed as she gave it a light toss to land right next to him. She reached down to plug it into the outlet next to her before turning on the light on her side of the bed. She went to the bathroom and turned off the light in there before returning to set up her laptop. She placed the laptop in front of her as she settled on her side of the bed. She went about adjusting her pillows before she was content in her position and he could see out of the corner of his eye that she pulled up a blank document to start typing up the start of their investigation so far.

He adjusted himself slightly to accommodate Scully’s sudden presence next to him and kept his eyes firmly glued on the TV. He would not make a fool of himself after she had managed to let him slip into her routines with such ease. Very quickly he found himself engrossed in the movie, initially as a way to distract himself from the clicking of the keys and the way Scully’s t-shirt would ride up to show her lower back, now out of genuine enjoyment as Michael Jordan and Bill Murray attempted their best acting chops set to otherwise invisible co-stars.

Scully would move next to him every once in a while, and he would hear her chuckle softly at the slapstick comedy, but otherwise they enjoyed the movie in relative silence. As the credits began to roll, Mulder smirked to himself, “I clearly made the wrong career choices to discover al – “ he turned to look at Scully and noticed she had her head back on the pillows, her mouth slightly open as she dozed off. Her laptop was perfectly poised between her hands, fingers caught in the middle of a word. Mulder felt his heart swell as he took in the sight, but he extracted himself off the bed as quietly as he could. He was careful to not make any extra noises as he made his way around the bed to grab Scully’s laptop. He carefully reached over and grabbed the laptop from its position on her lap and placed in on the nightstand. He made sure the document had saved before he closed it and turned back to Scully who was still poised with her hands in her lap and her head leaning on the headboard behind her. He was thankful that she had left the blankets open when she crawled into bed because he had no idea what he was going to do if she was sleeping on top of the blankets. He didn’t want to wake her, but he would feel guilty if he left her like that to freeze all night. He carefully reached over to grab at the blankets to pull over her sleeping form.

As he was making his way back over her body with the sheets, she made a noise in her sleep and before he could react, she was reaching up supposedly to stretch. He wouldn’t find out what she had actually intended to do because her arms smacked him square in the chest. Startled by the sudden body looming over her, her eyes shot open and she let out a small noise of shock as the air in Mulder’s chest was let out in a quick groan.

“Mulder?” She was panting heavily from having been startled by his appearance. She looked around at the situation and saw the blankets in his hands.

“Sorry. You fell asleep, so I just was making sure you were comfortable.” He was chastising himself for waking her up, but also for being caught hovering over her body. She narrowed her eyes at him as he still hadn’t moved from his spot, blankets in hand. They’re faces were so close that he could see several emotions pass over her face before he noticed her eyes had darted behind him to the tv before settling on his face. “You missed the movie too.” She was still silent and he couldn’t decide if he should finish pulling the blanket over her or just drop it to have her cover herself with it. She carefully reached out and grabbed the blanket from him. He was relieved that he wouldn’t have to make that choice. He was quick to straighten himself and didn’t wait around to watch as she made herself comfortable on the bed. As he passed by the TV, he quickly turned it off before he made his way to the door.

Scully rolled on her right side facing away from Mulder as he made his way out of her room. She heard what she thought was the TV turn off and she closed her eyes until she heard the door close. She carefully pulled herself out of bed and turned off the light. She sat in the dark, taking deep breaths to calm her heart. First the fright of waking up to finding a man leaning over her, then realizing that it was Mulder leaning over her and her heart had started beating for an entirely different reason. She had a hard time focusing on the words coming out of his mouth while her eyes just wanted to focus on how close his lips were to her. She had nearly crossed the fine line that distinguished their working relationship and their friendship. Having been confronted with her own mortality twice while being his partner had led her to reconsider her stance on throwing herself headfirst into her career. Between her abduction and her cancer diagnosis and subsequent recovery she had been presented with the idea that while she was proud of being a doctor and her work, she had missed a portion of her life by being led around by a man who told her every other night that the sky was falling and each time she ran out to look up to the stars with him.

She sighed as she lay back down on the bed in the darkened room. She turned onto her left side and worked her way through the seemingly endless expanse of sheets to feel for the still slightly warm spot where Mulder had been laying. She buried her face in the pillow he had been laying on and took a few deep breaths before the exhaustion she was feeling pulled her into a gentle sleep. The smell of Mulder enveloping her senses filled her dreams with pouty lips and strong arms around her.

xXx

“Thank you, Mr. Gorman.” Scully turned to the ranch man as he settled upon the ATV and tipped his hat at them. Mulder was already almost halfway into the dilapidated homestead. She looked on at the homestead which was surrounded by large cottonwoods and the walls overgrown with weeds. She made sure to tread carefully as there were portions of the building scattered around the tall grass. As she approached Mulder, she could hear a faint beeping sound grow steadily louder the closer she got to Mulder.

“Mulder, what is that?” She walked up next to him as he was looking at some device in his hands.

“I went out and borrowed a little toy for us to use.” He waved the device in his hand to show her. Scully flushed and sent up a silent prayer that the heat of the day had made both of their skin colors lean over to the pinkish category, or else her blush would have been a dead giveaway that she knew what he was talking about and just how much she wished he were talking about an entirely different toy. She thought back to her mishap yesterday in leaving her vibrator in her bathroom for Mulder to stumble on. She had no doubt he had chosen his words very carefully.

“Is that a Geiger counter?” She chose to avoid the comment to save herself any further commentary on the subject matter. “Where did you happen to ‘stumble upon’ one of these?” They walked closer to the house, at least what was left of the house. It had all four walls, but the roof look ready to collapse in on itself if the wind blew in the wrong direction. Which given the change in weather last night, she was sure might happen while they stood there.

“Fire stations are required to have them on the off chance they suspect that there might be a radon leak.” Scully looked apprehensively at the roof, as well as the Geiger counter currently making steady beeping noises in Mulder’s hands. “I thought since the boys were coming back from here with burns, we might as well come prepared on the chance that that is the case.” Scully ducked her head as she dodged the low hanging branches from the surrounding trees. The shade was soothing on her back as they made their way around the house. She eyed the leaning portions of the home wearily as Mulder crept closer with the Geiger counter. She kept Mulder in her peripheral as she made her way towards the back of the house. The wind had picked up last night and whipped her hair around her face as she went around back. She brushed her fiery hair out of her face. She could still faintly hear the device in Mulder’s hands as he reached an arm into the dilapidated house.

“Anything?” She managed through a particularly strong gust of wind. She closed her eyes as the dust picked up.

“Nothing unusual so far. The readings aren’t showing anything other than the usual background radiation you might get from walking around your house.” Mulder called through the wind, pulling his arm back out of the house, and walking around to join her. She watched for a moment as he caught up before she walked towards the back side of the house. There were several more trees swaying violently as the wind picked up in a large gust. Scully watched as a dirt devil started at the top of the ridge and make its way halfway down before disappearing into nothing. Mulder turned towards the back of the house; both of their eyes simultaneously landed on the large concrete covering about fifteen feet away.

“You owe me dinner if that’s a totally normal hole in the ground covered by a large slab of concrete.” Scully was apprehensive to get near the covering. They walked closer to the concrete protrusion in the otherwise unimpressive backyard. The counter stayed relatively steady in their approach. Mulder reached behind him with the device and Scully grabbed it from him. He walked to straddle the covering, grabbing at the rusted metal of the handle. She made sure to keep a watchful eye on Mulder while making sure the counter was still at normal levels. “You know, I’ve been working out, Scully.” She watched as he fixed his grip on the handle before grunting and heaving, the covering moving only a fraction of an inch. She watched from several feet away at the spectacle Mulder was putting on in front of her. 

“I can tell. Is that your way of saying you’re using both hands now?” She watched as he huffed and gave one last groan before the lid lifted slightly at his efforts.

“You are currently observing this man’s peak performance.” He could barely get the words out as he grunted and groaned. He just managed to get the lid off to reveal a small portion of the hole before the Geiger counter started blaring in Scully’s hand. She watched as the needle pushed as far to the right as possible. She watched as Mulder took large steps backward as if he could distance himself from the large wave of radiation that was currently coming from the small hole.

“Mulder!” Scully felt the overwhelming urge to vomit, but she swallowed it down. She watched as Mulder wasn’t so lucky. She listened to the sound of the Geiger counter going off over the sound of Mulder’s retching. She set the counter on the ground and dared to get closer to the cover.

“Scully – No!” He choked out through wretches, but she ignored him to pull the cover back over the hole. She dared to look down into the crack that the moved cover had created but couldn’t see anything strange. She grunted as she pulled with everything she had to try and get the hole covered. She felt a sweat break out over her neck and eyebrow as she tugged to no avail. Finally, Mulder struggled over and put his hands next to hers. They both pulled as hard as they could and were barely able to pull the cover back in place. Once it was sealed, the Geiger counter went back to its usual slow beeping. Scully panted heavily as she leaned on Mulder. Her stomach was tied up in knots, but she was adamant she wouldn’t get sick. Mulder put his hands on her shoulders, steering them away from the strange radioactive hole in the ground. Scully grabbed the Geiger counter from the ground as Mulder let go of her shoulders and darted off to lean heavily on a tree, hiding his face around the trunk as he continued to get sick.

“We have to get someone out here to get this area closed off.” Scully pulled her cell phone out as Mulder walked over to her, wiping at his mouth with the back of his hand. He cast a glance back at the concrete object behind them.

“So maybe your radiation theory might be correct.” She couldn’t afford to roll her eyes as the mere thought of doing so made her stomach roll. She looked through her phone, but the slash over the bars made her groan.

“No service.” She handed the Geiger counter back to Mulder. He took it graciously, looking still a little green around the gills. She led them to the dirt road that they first traveled in on and looked around to try and find some service. “Mulder give me your phone.” Mulder was standing with his hands on his hips, leaning down as if embracing for a tackle from a linebacker. He barely moved to dig around in his pocket and hand her his cell phone. She grabbed it and checked it next to hers. Still nothing. “Dammit.” She turned back to him. He was taking deep breaths through his nose and out his mouth. “It looks like we have to walk to the other homestead.” Mulder grunted, but didn’t make a motion to move at all. She put both of their phones in her suit pocket before going over to put a hand on Mulder’s back.

“Give me a second, Scully.” She nodded and looked out over the ridge that paralleled the homestead. The wind was picking up steadily as they sat there waiting on Mulder. Her eyes stung from the dust in them, and her stomach and head were killing her. Finally, Mulder leaned up and they began to walk down the road to the other homestead. It was only roughly a mile distance, but between the heat and the recent blast of radiation they had experienced they were going a little slower than normal. They leaned heavily against each other as they walked in the stifling heat. Mulder made her stop once as she could almost see the world spinning as she looked into his eyes. He took a few steadying breaths before they were off again. She could see the pinprick of the house in the distance and she squinted to try and make out anyone in the distance. She was worried about the radiation that Mulder had been subjected to from whatever was in that homestead.

They managed to get to the edge of the Gorman’s property before she saw Tom walking out onto the porch. He must have seen how Scully was basically dragging Mulder at this point and he ran back inside. She waved them down and Tom and one of his sons came running. When they got into hearing range she started to shout,

“Don’t come near us! Call an ambulance! We’ve been contaminated!” Tom stopped first, his feet kicking up dust as he shot his arm out to stop his son from getting any closer. “Make sure to tell them they need to inform the NRC that there is a potential spill!” She called as she saw Tom’s son go running back to the house. Tom stood waiting for Scully and Mulder to approach him. They didn’t get more than six feet before stopping. “There’s something dangerous on that homestead. I would strongly advise that your children go to the hospital for some blood tests.” Tom looked startled, either from the news that his property might have a toxic leak, that the agents in front of him had discovered it, or that his children might have also likely been near it previously.

“What can I do for you, right now?” Tom took his hat off and started waving it at Mulder. Mulder had his eyes closed as Scully did her best to keep him standing up. Scully used the hand closest to Mulder to dig around in his pockets for the car keys.

“Scully, this is hardly the time.” His joke fell flat as his words came out hoarse and noncommittal. His eyes were closed, and he looked like he was barely able to get the words out. She didn’t know if she should take it as a good sign or a bad sign. She decided that since he was talking and willing to make jokes then she was going to take it as a good sign. She finally found the keys and tossed them to Tom.

“Can you move our rental? You’re going to have a lot of people showing up and they need a clear path to get to that second homestead.” Tom caught the keys and made his way to the rental. Scully did her best to ease Mulder into a sitting position on the ground. Seemingly understanding her motives, he removed his arm from her shoulders and let himself fall onto his back onto the driveway. She would have rolled her eyes at his dramatics, but the jarring motion of watching him fall made her stomach churn.

“They’re on their way, ma’am!” She heard Tom’s son call from the porch. Scully shot him a glance over her shoulder before she knelt in the dirt to assess Mulder. She was glad that she had foregone her tights as she felt something sharp dig into her knee. The thought of buying another pair of tights seemed a more arduous adventure then getting her partner to the hospital. She put her hands on the side of Mulder’s head as she gently turned his head to look for any signs of blisters or burns.

“Does this make me the frog?” She turned his face towards her as she looked on the other side of his face, her fingers running through his hair. His voice was like the rocks currently getting crushed under the rental car’s tires. She wrinkled her nose at the smell of vomit on his breath. He still hadn’t opened his eyes.

“You should see me in a crown.” She put his head back to its forward position and pushed his sweat drenched hair back as she continued looking for burns.

“Maybe you could kiss me, and it’ll turn me into a prince.” She would have rolled her eyes if she weren’t holding back gags.

“I can almost promise that me kissing you will not make our situation any better.” She pulled at his collar to start to look at his neck and shoulders. She knew that the paramedics would no doubt check to make sure he wasn’t covered in sores, but she had to see with her own eyes – as his doctor.

“It won’t make it any worse either.” She shot him a glare, but his eyes were still closed. She leaned back to check his hands when she heard what sounded like sirens. She turned back to see dust coming up from the road. Hopefully, a convoy would be following that ambulance. Tom was standing a few feet away, fidgeting with the keys in his hands. She held out her hand and he gently tossed the keys at her. She pocketed those as well as she wasn’t going to enable anymore of his fantasies.

“Mulder, can you open your eyes for me?” She moved so that she was leaning directly over him. She blocked most of the sun on his face as best she could. Her cross and hair were dangling above him, and she hurriedly reached up to put her hair behind her ears. He slowly opened his eyes only to immediately turn and vomit in the dirt. She rubbed his back as she heard doors closing and looked back to see several paramedics and men in suits jogging towards them.

The next few moments were a flurry of answering questions, both to the paramedics and to the men who were presumably with the NRC. Scully flashed her badge once she remembered as she watched as Mulder was loaded onto a stretcher. She wondered if it would hurt any less the more this happened to them. Fear momentarily froze her heart in her chest as Mulder’s hand fell off the side of the gurney, only to be placed on his chest by a diligent paramedic. She began to explain what they saw and where. She made sure to grab the Geiger counter from the dirt, worried it might be lost in the scuffle. She did _not_ want to know how much that would cost the Bureau to replace. She barely registered the conversations going on around her. She could only focus on getting herself into the back of the ambulance. She remembered being able to answer the questions coming her way, but if asked later she wouldn’t be able to recall any of the questions in specifics. She did see one man in a black suit calling to a group of people in hazmat suits to get into the back of an ATV driven by Tom. A few black SUV’s followed the little ATV.

“Alright enough questions, I have to get these people to the hospital ASAP.” One of the paramedics started to cut into the barrage of questions one of the black suited men were hurling her way. The men looked affronted but stopped their questioning. The paramedic helped her into the back of the ambulance before following her, closing the doors as he did so. Once the doors were shut and she was sitting down in one of the bench seats she could feel the ambulance start off towards the hospital.

“Mrs. Mulder.” She snapped her head to attention at the address. “Can you give me some of your medical info?” The paramedic had a notebook in his hand and was watching between her and Mulder.

“Scully.” She barely got out as her face flushed. She hoped to god that Mulder didn’t hear that. “I’m Dr. Dana Scully. I’m his doctor.” The paramedic raised an eyebrow but didn’t correct his statement.

“Any immediate medical concerns, Dr. Scully.” He pressed on.

“I remitted from cancer a few months ago.” The paramedic quickly jotted down on his notepad.

“Partial or complete?” He looked up from his notepad. The dirt road making the ambulance ride a particularly harrowing one for her stomach.

“Complete.” They continued like this as they drove to the hospital. Scully was thankful when she could feel the road underneath the wheels. Scully leaned forward to put her hand on Mulder’s forehead. He had been unusually quiet throughout the entire ride. “What did you give him?” She looked over at the paramedic.

“Just dimenhydrinate to help with the nausea.” Scully could feel heat emanating from his forehead, but she couldn’t tell if it was from him being out in the sun or from a possible fever. She pulled her hand back and bit her tongue to keep her stomach contents in her stomach. “What were you doing on Skinwalker ranch?” Scully opened her eyes and glanced at the man.

“The ranch is under federal investigation.” The man’s face was pale, and his eyes had a sheen over them that she wasn’t expecting to see. For the first time since she has been in this man’s presence, she could tell that he was fearful for his life. She had seen some interesting things since being here, but the biggest concern she had at the moment was making sure Mulder’s organ didn’t start to shut down. The paramedic seemed to be in a frozen state as the ambulance came to a halt. Once the doors opened though any fear that the paramedic seemed to have was paused as his partner opened the back doors and there were doctors and nurses waiting to receive her and Mulder. One of the nurses held out their hand to help her out once Mulder had been moved out of the back of the ambulance and onto a hospital gurney. He was still unnaturally quiet, and she would be lying if she said she wasn’t wishing he would make a flirtatious comment just to ease the nerves she was feeling at the entire situation.

She thanked the nurse and they led them both to an isolated portion of the hospital. She watched from her position as doctors and nurses buzzed around Mulder. The nurse who helped her out of the ambulance was the only one who was helping her with her blood work.

“How did you and your husband get exposed to radiation?” She had a sweet voice while she pulled back the syringe. Since she wasn’t displaying as many symptoms as Mulder the only thing they could do for her was monitor her condition and make sure she didn’t get any worse. Maybe it was because she was tired. Maybe it was because she had to constantly clear up the misinterpretation. Maybe it was because she couldn’t find it in her to deny the claim when she had kept her eyes firmly glued on his profile, but she didn’t correct the nurse.

“We were investigating the Gorman ranch when we stumbled onto tunnel. We brought this –“she held up the Geiger counter uselessly before putting it back down next to her. “– but it wasn’t until he opened it that it started to go off.” The woman pulled the vial of her blood out and stoppered it before placing it in a carrier with two other empty vials. She removed the rubber band around Scully’s arm and rubbed at the mark a little before putting the rubber band on the tray.

“Well, he’s in for a treat.” The nurse gave a genuine smile. “The nurses will fix him up and then the doctors will take all the credit, but then I know he’ll be in good hands.” She gave Scully a pointed look before she grabbed the tray full of her blood and started to walk away. Scully watched her for a moment before her eyes were drawn back to Mulder. “I’ll be back to give you something for your nausea, if you want.” Scully could barely mumble out a yes before the nurse was gone and Scully was left in her seat watching and listening as various doctors and nurses moved in and out of the room to check on Mulder who looked like he was just taking a nap throughout it all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope everyone enjoyed this. I will have it be known that this is a one-shot that got entirely out of hand.


End file.
